Of Mice and Men By: John Stienbeck In the beginning of
the story, two men named George Milton and Lennie Small
are trying to make their way to a small ranch in Salinas
Valley, California. George is the leader of their two man
tribe, despite Lennie’s intimidating size. George is filled with
determination and confidence while Lennie is a simple man
with a big heart. Up north, they had recently been run out of
a town called Weed on account of Lennie. First of all,
Lennie is not very smart, and becomes frightened and
confused easily. Also, he enjoys petting animals and
feelingthings that grab his attention. One night in Weed,
Lennie and George had gone to a pool hall. Lennie saw a
girl wearing a bright red dress. He grabbed on to the sleeve
of her dress. The girl became scared and screamed; this
frightened Lennie. He did not know what to do so he held
on to the dress tighter. The next day, George found out that
the girl went to the police and pressed charges against
Lennie. The police were all over town looking for him.
George and Lennie escaped by hiding in an irrigation ditch
until nightfall and then leaving town. After that, they
hitchhiked all the way to Salinas Valley, California where the
story continues. The next day they arrived at their
destination, the ranch where the would be working. That
day, they met someone named Candy. He was an old man
who had been working on the farm for many years. He also
had an old dog. It was so stiff with rheumatism it could
hardly walk. A few minutes later, someone else walked into
the bunk. His name was Curly and he was the boss’s son.
Curly was extremely hostile towards the newcomers,
especially Lennie. George predicts Curly will present future
problems and advises Lennie to keep out of Curley’s way.
George is trying to keep Lennie from getting into trouble
again, so when they meet Curley’s flirtatious wife, George
advises Lennie never to talk to her. Later that day, they also
meet some of the other ranch hands, Slim, Whit and
Carlson. That night, Slim gave Lennie of his newborn
puppies. Lennie was so overjoyed that he stayed out in the
barn half the night petting it. While Lennie was in the barn
something was going on in the bunk house. Carlson was
trying to persuade Candy to let him shoot his dog. Carlson
argued that the dog was old, sick and miserable and that
ending its suffering would be the best thing to do for the dog.
After a few minutes, of thought Candy wearily agreed. So
Carlson took the old, weary dog outside put a gun to the
back of the dog’s head and pulled the trigger. A few minutes
later, Lennie returned to the bunk house from the barn. Then
he asked George to repeat their dream as he often did. So
George began again. When we get enough money we are
going to have a little house, a few acres of land, and a few
animals. We will be our own bosses and do what we want
to do. Candy was still in the room and got very excited at
hearing this that he asked if he could go in on it with them.
George hesitated until he heard how much money Candy
had saved up and then he agreed that he could be included
in their dream. When Curly came back into the bunk house,
Lennie was still smiling at the thought of his dream. Curly
thought Lennie was laughing at him and began to pick a fight.
Before long Lennie had a bloody nose. He looked to
George for help while Curly continued to pound him.
Suddenly, George screamed, “get him”. The frightened
Lennie grabbed Curley’s hand right as he was throwing
another punch. Curly shrank back in pain. Lennie had broke
most of the bones in his hand. Lennie did not get in trouble
because Curly told everyone he got his hand caught in a
machine. The next morning, everyone was playing horse
shoes except Lennie. He was out in the barn petting his
puppy when all of a sudden Curley’s wife appears in the
doorway. She asks him why he is out in the barn all alone.
He says because he likes to pet things that are soft and his
puppy is soft. Then she says that her hair is soft and asks
Lennie if he wants to feel it. Of course he did not refuse. As
he is stroking her hair she started to protest because he
began to mess it up. She will not be quiet and Lennie is afrad
if George catches him with her he will be mad. So he
covered her mouth wit his strong hand. She continued to
scream and struggle which frightened Lennie. So he shook
her and then suddenly, all was quiet. Lennie had accidentally
broken her neck. After a moment, Lenie realized he had
done a bad thing and ran away when he heard George
coming. When George saw Curley’s wife lying in the straw
he knew Lennie had done it. A few minutes later, th rest of
the men discovered her. Curly was furious and George was
afraid he might kill Lennie so he went to look for him.
George already knew the only place Lennie would go, the
brush where they stayed the last night before they came to
the ranch. When George got there Lennie asked if he was
mad at him. George said no and after much thought told
Lennie to look straight out at the river. As they stood there,
George told Lennie about the house and the land they would
soon have and how it would all be. Lennie smiled at the
pleasant thoughts as George pulled out a gun. He aimed it at
the back of Lennie’s head and pulled the trigger. I enjoyed
reading Of Mice and Men. I think it was a very good book.
I was very surprised by the ending of the story. I would
recommend this book to any one who enjoys reading about
friendship.