Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again.
Chapter 1 · Narrator
Context
The narrator describes Lennie's reluctant approach to surrender the dead mouse George has demanded.
Analysis
The simile shifts from the chapter's ursine register (bear) to the canine (terrier), recalibrating Lennie's animality from one of dangerous strength to one of trained subservience—the same body that 'drags his paws' like a bear is also, in another posture, a dog responding to a master's snapped fingers. The triadic verb sequence 'approached, drew back, approached again' enacts the very oscillation it describes through rhythmic repetition, the comma-separated motion units mimicking Lennie's incomplete commitment to compliance.
How to Use in Essay
Argue that Steinbeck's animal similes for Lennie are not a single comparison but a calibrated taxonomy—this passage demonstrates how the shift from bear to terrier maps Lennie's relational position from autonomous power to domesticated dependence, with George occupying the structural slot of master.