Steinbeck then writes about the animals that live there and presents them as belonging in this pastoral scene, the rabbits ‘sit on the sand’ and the deer come to drink at the pool. The animals feel safe and secure as we see form the rabbits ‘sat as quietly as little grey sculptured stones’, they also feel unthreatened by people because they are used to a lot of people walking past in the valley towards the Gabilian Mountains, a lot of them are itinerant workers that move from around the country quite often.
At the first glance of the tranquil setting, this seems to be identical to the last chapter in the book, but there are significant differences in the two chapters.
Steinbeck uses the last chapter to end the book, he uses a particular setting the pool near the Salinas River this is a coincidence because this is where he started it.
George and Lennie upset the natural scene at the pool near the Salinas River as they arrive just like they upset the scene at the ranch. Once George and Lennie arrive at the ranch we begin to establish and understand the characters and their relationships. George and Lennie have a father like son relationship because George is the one who has to sort out the mess Lennie has gotten himself into and always explain to him what they are doing and where, he feels responsible for Lennie and looks out for him but George also likes the relationship between him and Lennie because he wants someone to talk to, a companion and someone who can look out for him too. Lennie is dependant on George and he obeys him without question and doesn’t get into trouble but when Lennie is alone he gets into trouble straight away.
Lennie is innocent like a child, he is a little kid inside a big man’s body. He likes to stroke pets and stroke different type of materials such as velvet. Lennie used to always kill his pet mouse that was given to him by his Aunt Clara because she was dead and he didn’t have any pets he used to stroke dead mice that he found lying on the floor. The death of his mice foreshadows the death of his puppy, Lennie doesn’t know his own strength he only strokes the puppy and he kills it. When he kills Curly’s wife, her death foreshadows Lennie being shot in the head.
When Lennie runs away after killing Curly’s wife he goes to the place where George tells him to go if he ever gets into any kind of trouble, at the pool near the Salinas River. The novel now comes back to the place where it started. When Lennie is alone he is cautious, afraid, like an animal he scents danger. This is the helpless Lennie we have seen before in the novel – in weed, Curly’s hand and with Curly’s wife, without George Lennie is a walking target waiting to be destroyed.
When George arrives at the pool by the Salinas River, Lennie is so pleased to see him. George tells Lennie to look down the river and to imagine the farm, George now starts to tell Lennie about the dream. Lennie is now really focussing on the mental image of the farm in his head just before George shoots him he tells Lennie about the rabbits that he wants to tend. Lennie has been shot by George in the back of the head where Candy’s dog was shot, George felt he had to shoot Lennie to save him form Curly and from being alone without George in a mental institution. There are a few hints in the first chapter about this event, when George talks about trouble and also what happened in weed. By the last chapter Lennie’s death is unavoidable, and we have been prepared for it from the start of the book.
Steinbeck flags up his themes in the opening chapter and shows the consequences in the ending of the novel.
