Foil

Lennie

Steinbeck goes out of his way to have Lennie be George’s opposite in size, mental ability, and temperament; therefore allowing us to see how childish and spontaneous Lennie is – and how parental and practical George is.

The "straight man" in a comedy duo is sometimes known as the comic foil. The humor in these partnerships derives from the uneven relation between the characters, who usually share many traits but have drastically different personalities. While the straight man portrays a reasonable and serious character, the other portrays a funny, dumb, or simply unorthodox one. Abbott and Costello, Lucy and Ricky, Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, Chris Farley and David Spade, Lennie and George. All the best relationships in the world – as well as the worst. Notice how one of the pair nearly always wants to kill the other.