A breakdown of Steinbeck's 'Of mice and Men'.

Authors Avatar

Chapter 1

At the novel's outset, Steinbeck takes great pains to familiarize us with the setting, using poetic imagery to describe the "golden foothill slopes" (1) of the Salinas River Valley and a particular pool on the banks of which "the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them" (1). Some rabbits sit in the sand. The novel begins here, in the cool of the sycamores among the golden shadows of a California evening, with a path in the forest leading to the sandy river's edge. One thing is missing: people. Here we are introduced to the landscape in which the novel is to take place, the Salinas Valley in the early 20th century, as well as the author's particular style, which, in Steinbeck's case, tends toward the Romantic.

The idyllic peace of the initial scene is disrupted as the novel's two main characters emerge from the woods. The rabbits scurry into the shrubs (we should pay special attention to rabbits in light of what is to come) and a heron flies from the edge of the still pool before George and Lennie enter the clearing. The pair are physical opposites, George being "small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features" (2) while Lennie is described as "a huge man, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily" (2). George orders his larger companion to not drink too much from the river and we immediately learn who is in charge as Lennie carefully imitates George's actions at the riverbank. See the Character Profile section for more details.

The pair have just walked about four miles after being dropped off by a bus. George is irritated at the length of the walk and at Lennie's forgetfulness as to where they are headed. As Lennie re-learns, we come to understand that the two are migrant ranch workers, on their way from one job to another. The next morning they are to work at a ranch in Soledad and George makes it clear that he is to do the talking with the boss when they arrive. In the course of re-explaining their destination, George angrily discovers that Lennie has been concealing a dead mouse in his pocket ("I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along" (6), Lennie innocently argues) and makes him throw it away into the weeds. This curious desire of Lennie's to pet soft things, even if they are soft, dead things, is one to be noted carefully in light of future (and past) events.

After failing at an attempt to retrieve the dead mouse that he threw away (George catches him) while he is supposed to be gathering firewood for dinner, Lennie mentions a lady who once gave him mice to pet and George, annoyed, reminds him that the lady in question was Lennie's own Aunt Clara, through whom we are to guess that the two are somehow tied. George removes three cans of beans for dinner and when Lennie childishly states that he   likes ketchup with his beans, George grows angry again and muses on the life he could live if he wasn't with Lennie: "I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. . . You do bad things and I got to get you out" (12). Through George's anger, we learn that one of the "bad things" occurred at their last job, in Weed, when Lennie wanted to pet a woman's dress because he thought it was pretty and held on when she tried to jerk away. The two had to flee the town in the night when the woman raised assault charges and brought the whole town looking for Lennie and George.

Lennie responds to George's anger with self-pity and the use of the guilt trip, sorrowfully saying that if George doesn't want him around, he could just go off and live in the hills by himself. This tactic softens George into saying that he wants Lennie to stay with him, after which Lennie urges George to tell "about the rabbits" (14). And so it is that in the first chapter we are introduced to the dream of the protagonists, the dream of every working rancher in America: one's own piece of land and the money and means by which to live off of it. To Lennie's delight, George delivers a monologue about how him and Lennie are different from other ranchers who drift from town to town, who "don't belong to no place" (15) and "ain't got nothing to look ahead to" (15). Lennie and George are different, according to George, because they have a future and each other. One day they will save enough money to have their own little farm "an' live off the fatta the lan'" (15) and not have to take orders from anyone and reap their own harvest. The most pleasing aspect of this dream in Lennie's estimation is the prospect of having rabbits, the care of which will be put in his charge. Thus, the desired outcome of the novel is presented to us through George. The conflict, of course, lies in this question: how will George succeed with Lennie at his side?

George, whose own eyes have clouded over with dreamy delight at the thought of his future farm, interrupts his monologue impatiently ("Nuts! I ain't got time for no more" (16)) and returns to more practical matters: eating dinner, reminding Lennie not to talk to the boss tomorrow, and getting some rest. His final order to Lennie is one that we sould remember: George tells him to come

back to the exact same spot where they are sitting and hide in the brush until George comes for him should anything go wrong at the ranch. Night falls on the end of the first chapter.


Chapter 2

Steinbeck begins the second chapter in much the same way as the
first-without people. The setting is now at the ranch in Soledad, in the bunk house of the workers. The door opens and an old one-handed caretaker (whose name we later learn is Candy) leads George and Lennie inside. Candy tells the two men that they were expected by the boss last night and he was mad when they weren't at the ranch in time to go out with the morning crew. Candy proves to be talkative and gives George and Lennie a little background of the ranch and the boss, who "gets pretty mad sometimes, but he's pretty nice" (p.22).

Candy is interrupted by the entrance of the boss himself and Candy shuffles past him and out the door. George explains to the stern boss the situation with the bus and the long walk, claiming it as the reason for their tardiness. The boss presses Lennie to answer after noticing that George is doing the talking for the both of them, but George persists, interrupting: "Oh! I ain't saying he's bright. He ain't. But I say he's a God damn good worker" (24). The boss then turns suspiciously to George and voices a concern, what turns out to be one of the primary concerns of the novel, a question that the reader should be considering: Why is George taking so much trouble for Lennie's behalf? What's in it for George? George replies: "He's my. . . cousin. I told his old lady I'd take care of him. He got kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid" (25). This satisfies the boss, who tells them to go out to work in the evening and leaves them in the bunkhouse, vanishing from the novel forever. We learn form Lennie, who is confused by George's answer to the boss, that George was lying about being Lennie's cousin: "If I was a relative of yours, I'd shoot myself" (26), George admits.

George discovers Candy eavesdropping outside the door and he re-enters with his old sheepdog. George is initially angered by Candy's nosiness, but warms to the old man when Candy responds: "I ain't interested in nothing you was sayin'. A guy on a ranch don't never listen nor he don't ast no questions" (27). The next person to enter the bunk house while the three characters are chatting is the boss's son, Curley, "a thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair" (p.27). Curley is looking for his dad, but upon seeing George and Lennie he tenses as if preparing for a fight and addresses them coldly, confronting George when Lennie won't answer him: "By Christ, he's gotta talk when he's spoke to. What the hell are you gettin' into it for?" (28). After firmly establishing himself as the antagonist, Curley departs. Candy then informs the two that Curley is a boxer who doesn't like big guys because he himself is small and that he is just recently married to a pretty young woman who, according to Candy, has "the eye" (31). George voices his dislike of Curley and warns Lennie to avoid him at all costs.

The next character that Steinbeck places in the doorway of the bunk house for George and Lennie to meet is Curley's wife, young and made up very prettily. She claims to be looking for Curley, and George tells her, without looking at her, that Curley isn't in the bunkhouse. Lennie, however, stares fascinated at the pretty lady in the doorway, which Curley's wife seems to enjoy, "she smiled archly and twitched her body" (35). Curley's wife then leaves and George is more disturbed , realizing that Curley and his wife pose a serious threat to Lennie. He warns him to not even look at Curley's wife and Lennie says that he wants to leave, that "this ain't no good place" (36). George refuses to take heed of Lennie's ominous words, claiming that they need to stay and make a little money before they can leave.

But not everything is stacked against our two heroes. The final two characters to enter through chapter two's bunk house door prove to be friendly. First comes Slim, the wise leader of the workers, whose "authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love" (37). Slim welcomes George and Lennie and doesn't question their traveling together. The next worker to enter is a powerful but amiable man by the name of Carlson, whom Slim introduces to George and Lennie. Slim and Carlson converse about a litter of puppies to which Slim's dog has just given birth. Carlson suggests that Candy replace his old, blind dog with one of Slim's puppies and the dinner bell rings and everyone scrambles toward its sound, leaving George and Lennie alone again. Lennie is excited at the prospect of perhaps getting one of Slim's puppies for himself and George promises him that he'll ask Slim for one. Before the two leave for dinner, Curley pokes his head in the bunkhouse again in search of his wife, a reminder of the trouble that waits for George and Lennie. Curley hurries off again when George coldly tells him

Join now!

that his wife was looking for him. They leave the bunk house and chapter two, and the final character to enter through the door is Candy's old dog, who wearily lies down on the floor.


Chapter 3

We again find ourselves inside the bunk house on the same day. George and Slim enter, in the midst of a conversation. We learn that Slim has agreed to let Lennie have one of his pups. Slim comments on what a strong worker Lennie is and George grows proud. Slim again remarks on the rarity of two guys traveling together ...

This is a preview of the whole essay