Lennie also insists that George repeats the story and gets very exited about some rabbits that George says they could own. We are also given the feeling that George needs Lennies friendship. George says "Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place." and Lennie says "But not us! An’ why? Because I got you to look after me an' you got me to look after you and thats why." This quotation tells us why they have their dream and why it is so important to them.
Then we are told why they are moving on from the last place they were imployed, but the only details we are given are that they were “run outta Weed” (see photo map).
After a night under the stars George and Lennie moved onwards toward the ranch that they’re headed for. When they get there we are introduced to the general farm worker with one hand called Candy. Then we are introduced to the boss, In the whole book we never find out this characters name, at the time this wasn’t out of the ordinary because people didn’t think it was that important to know each other in any close detail. Then the boss asks George and Lennie some questions but because George is reluctant to let Lennie speak. The boss sees this and says, “Why don’t you let him talk? What are you trying to pull over?” already suspicious. Then he adds “Are you taking his pay away from him?” showing the suspicion that goes with travelling around with another man.
We are soon introduced too curly who Candy describes as “a lot like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy.” Due to this he obviously takes an instant dislike to Lennie. Soon we’re told that Curly recently got married to a character that is only refured to as “Curlys Wife”. Just like the boss we never know her real name. We’re told that they’ve been “Married two weeks and got the eye, maybe that’s why Curley’s pants is full of ants.” (The eye means that she is already looking at other men).
Shortly after this we are told about Slim who is described as a “Hell of a nice fella.” Then Carlson comes in and one of the first things he says “Why’n’t you get Candy to kill his old dog” (due to the smell it makes) this shows us that people don’t ever stop to consider each other’s feelings. Candy has raised this dog since it was a pup and really cares for it. Later in the book Slim gives him a new pup to raise so he can shoot his dog, Candy feels that he has to and obliges. When this happens nobody even notices that “he did not look at the dog at all. He lay on the bunk and crossed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. When they here the gun shot Candy “rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent” however nobody takes any real notice of Candy’s pain.
Curly also gives one of his puppies to Lennie who spends all of his time in the barn playing with it and try’s to sneak it in. When he does Slim asks George what’s wrong with Lennie. George feeling at ease with Slim reveals that Lennie is a “bit crazy”. He also tells Slim about what happened in Weed. He says that Lennie sees a girl wearing a soft dress, so he try’s to feel it and terrifies the girl. The girl screams but this scares Lennie so he just holds on. When the girl finally gets free she tells everybody that George and Lennie raped her, So they ran away.
Later we meet Crooks who is a stable hand. He got his name because he was kicked in the back, which is now crooked. Just like the boss and Curley’s wife we never know his real name. Crooks is coloured and as a result is made to live in the barn and isn’t allowed in the bunkhouse. At one point Lennie talks to him and Crooks is very worried that Lennie is mocking him. After a short time Crooks amits that he is very lonely in the barn and believes that he shouldn’t be isolated due to his race.
Curley later comes into the bunkhouse looking for his wife, only to be insulted by Slim, Carlson and Candy. But then Curly sees Lennie Smiling from thinking about they’re dream ranch. Curly takes it that Lennie is laughing at him and starts a fight with him. George tells Lennie to fight back. Lennie crushes Curlys hand. When he finally lets go of Curly Slim says “Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ in bust”. To cover it up from the boss they say that Curly got his hand stuck in a farm machine.
Then one day Lennie is in the barn playing with his new puppy, when he accidentally pets it too hard. The puppy retaliates buy biting Lennie, Lennie in turn retaliates but accidentally kills it. While Lennie is sat there feeling sorry for himself Curley’s Wife comes in and tells him that she really knows what happened to Curley’s hand. Lennie stays adamant that he shouldn’t talk to her like George told him. Then Curley’s Wife says something very profound. She says “I get lonely, You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” This is the first time we see her as a real person and not just a “tart”. This shows even the reader that we shouldn’t judge people by first impressions, we should try to find out who they are and their motive. Then to back that up she says “seems like none of them care how I gotta live.” Lennie soon relaxes and after a short time they both admit that they like to feel soft things. Then Curley’s wife tells Lennie how soft her hair is and tells him to feel it. Lennie gets carried away and when she pulls away from him, worried that she’ll scream he grabs her and accidentally breaks her neck. Fearing the worst he runs away. When the body is discovered everybody except George leaps to the conclusion that Lennie has gone on a killing spree. Curly instead of caring about his dead wife however feels the need to get revenge and shouts “That big son-of-a-bitch done it.” “I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son of a bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts.” This is another example of what Steinbeck meant, not know about Lennie’s condition everybody jumps to the conclusion that he is evil.
After a short time George runs off after him stealing Carlsons luger (gun). Knowing Lennie well he finds him quickly and reluctantly shoots him in the head (so he won’t feel any pain we Curly catches up to him). The other men here the shot and come running. When they get their Slim says “never you mind, a guy got to sometimes”. Not noticing George’s pain Carslon adds “got him by god, right in the back of the head.” Then when George and Slim walk off to get a drink Carlson remarks “Now what the hell do ya think is eatin’ them two guys?” Steinbeck puts his message across very well in this book and points out a lot of very poignant things.
Steinbeck isn’t the only person to write like this however Thomas Hardy’s “The Withered Arm” has much the same message. It’s a tale of a lonely milkmaid named Rhoda Brook who lives with her illigitament son. The farther of her son is Farmer Lodge, the man who owns her house and land she works on. We join the tale as Farmer Lodge is returning from his new marriage. Rhoda is described as “a thin fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest” to show how different she is. When she returns home her house is described like it “lay apart from that of the others, to a lonely spot high above the water-meads”. When she gets there she tells her son to go and see this new wife. Just like in “Of Mice and Men” Rhoda’s son is only referred to as boy and child. Rhoda tells him to “see if she is dark or fair, and if you can, notice if her hands be white; if not, see if they look as though she had ever done housework, or are milker's hands like mine." When the boy sees her it returns telling of how beautiful she is. But when Rhoda inquires about how tall she is the boy can’t answer because she was sat down. So the boy is sent out to see her at church. He returns telling of how shy she is and how embarrassed she was when her dress made a noise. Rhoda ignores this though and still believes that she is a pretty young woman using her looks for evil. Showing us how quickly we judge people dispute not knowing them well.
That night Rhoda dreams that she hurts the new wife’s arm, but when she awakes pays no attention. Later the wife takes a trip up to Rhoda’s house to give her son some new shoes. This is the first time we ever here anybody give the wife a name, Gertrude. Just like the boy we are given the impression that her name wasn’t important its who people thought she was. After a few meetings they become quite good friends but Rhoda never really notices the error of her ways. The Gertrude reveals that her arm somehow got injured and medical men can’t cure it.
At this point Rhoda belives that she did it and we are told that “people had called her witch before” this was probably because she lived apart from people. This is another sign of people not understanding each other. Unfortunately the rest of the tale is mainly about the story and we can’t find much to show us about unfair persecution. This first half of the story tells us how quick we are to judge and try’s to get us to understand each other. In some ways Rhoda and Crooks (from “Of Mice And Men”), they are both isolated for trivial reasons a both feel bad as a result of it.
