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.