Curley’s wife – Curley’s wife has only been married to Curley for 2 weeks, and has already started giving other men, such as Slim “the eye”.
Chapter 3
The chapter starts with a passage of text describing the early evening as the workers return from the fields. Slim has given Lennie a puppy and he is therefore in the barn looking after it. Slim then knows that something happened in Weed and presses George to tell him what has happened. Slim is calm about it, and tries to win over George’s trust, although George had told Lennie not to say anything about what happened in Weed.
Slim comes to the judgement that “he ain’t mean” (p.68) and then George agrees. Slim goes on to say “I can tell a mean guy a mile off”.
Soon Lennie walks in on Lennie and George and proceeds to go and curl up in the corner of the room. George instantly suspects that Lennie has brought in a puppy and says “I tol’ you you couldn’t bring that pup up here”, Lenny replies “what pup George? I ain’t got no pup”. But George sees straight through Lennie, finds the pup and orders him to take it back to the “Nest”.
As Lennie goes out, Slim comments “Jesus he’s jes like a kid. There ain’t no more harm in him than a kid neither, except he’s so strong”.
As Carson comes into the bunkhouse he smells Candy’s old dog. He begins to plead with Candy to put the dog down. A comparison can be drawn from this. As the dog is completely dependent on Candy, so Lennie is completely dependent on George. Carson seems to be evil and unfeeling towards Candy who has had the dog since it was a puppy. Carson pushes his view hard, and says that he’s a waster and a drain on Candy. As a last resort, Candy looks towards Slim for a contrary argument but Slim agrees that the dog has to go. After Carlson goes out there is silence, eventually Whit says “What the hell’s taking him so long?”
Soon after, Curley comes into the bunkhouse and asks after his wife. He’s told that his wife is not there and that Slim had gone over to the barn 5 or 10 minutes before. At once Curley jumps up and runs to the barn. The rest of the workers realise that there will be a fight and run after Curley. Candy who is still upset about his dog, lies in the corner leaving only Lennie and George in the room. So Lennie asks “George, how long’s it gonna be till we get that little place an’ live off the fatta the lan’ – an’ rabbits?” George doesn’t know and replies “We gotta get a big stake together. I know a little place we can get cheap, but they ain’t givin’ it away”.
At this point Candy’s attention is grabbed. He turns over and watches George. Lennie asks George, in his childish way, to describe the plot of land. George continues to describe the land and gets excited and goes on until Lennie “watched him with wide eyes, and old Candy watched him too”.
After a long while Candy says “You know where’s a place like that?” At first, George is wary of Candy, but when he tells him that he has $250 and $50 coming at the end of the month, George and Lennie get excited. They are cut short however by the men returning from the barn.
Slim and Curley enter, arguing. Slim says “I’m getting’ God damn sick of it. If you can’t look after your own God damn wife, what do you expect me to do about it? You lay offa me”. Everyone begins to make fun of Curley and Curley begins to get angry. The text then reads “His eyes slipped on past and lighted on Lennie; and Lennie was still smiling with delight at the memory of the ranch”. Curley at once latches onto him and says “What the hell you laughin’ at?”
Curley then explodes. “Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I’ll show ya who’s yella”. He lashes out and hits Lennie in the face. He hits him several times and cries “Make ‘um stop George”. Slim tries to intervene but George stops him and shouts out “Get ‘im Lennie!” Lennie grabs Curley’s hand and begins to crush it. George hits him several times about the head and tells him to stop it but Lennie continues to hold onto him. Eventually he lets go and Curley is unable to believe what has happened.
From then on Candy becomes totally withdrawn. He is obviously shocked and distressed by what has happened. As men come in from work for the night, a young boy comes in and brings out a magazine called “Pulp”.
Whit the ranch hand – whit is a young ranch hand who is obviously not as bright as Slim but is eager to impress in whatever way he can. He asks Slim to read a section out of the magazine, Slim dutifully reads it. At the pace of Slim’s reading we can see that, although he is educated, it is to a very small extent. Soon another man pops his head in. His name is Crooks.
Crooks the stable buck
Crooks addresses Slim as Mister and is quiet, carrying out the jobs he is set. Crooks apart from being black is a cripple, and to all ends useless in the field, but in the stable he is skilled and respected for the works that he does. He likes his privacy and likes to be seen apart from the others this is reflected in the way he addresses people.
Chapter 4
The chapter begins with a vivid description of Crooks the stable buck’s living area within the stables. From what is described, we find that Crooks is a literate man, for he has books, magazines and also a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. During this chapter, it’s Saturday night and “anyone who is anyone has gone to town to blow their wages. The people left behind are all the “misfits”: Lennie, Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy. All in their own way are different.
Crooks and Lennie
Due to his injury Crooks often rubs his back with medicines and liniment. While Crooks is doing this Lennie comes over from the bunkhouse to the stables to see the pups. As Lennie stands in the doorway, Crooks looks up and sees him. At once, Crooks is furious “you got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me”. (p. 99-100)
Lennie smiles to try and make friends but it doesn’t work. Lennie says “I ain’t doing nothing, jus come to look at my puppy and I seen your light”. Crooks then asks indignantly if a black man is not allowed to have a light. He then says “I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain’t wanted here”. Lennie tells Crooks that the rest of the men have gone to town for the evening and that he is on his own.
Eventually Crooks gives in to Lennie’s smile and invites him in. he tells him to sit down and asks him “All the boys gone to town, huh?” (p.101) Lennie tells him that everyone but Candy has gone. He tells Crooks that Candy is “figurin’”. Crooks asks “about what?” and for the second time Lennie spills the beans on their plan. Although he has told him about the plan, Crooks quickly dismisses Lennie as “a nut”.
Crooks tortures Lennie
As the conversation continues, Crooks begins to see Lennie’s complete dependence on George. Crooks is obviously hurt to see that Lennie has someone to talk to, and someone to look out for him. Crooks doesn’t have anyone. He talks about his childhood and how he had someone to look out for him but now he’s on his own.
Soon Crooks realise Lennie’s weakness: George. Crooks says in a soft voice, “S’pose George don’t come back no more? S’pose he took a powder and he jus ain’t coming back? What’ll you do then?” As Lennie realises what is just being said, he cries “He won’t do it”. “George wouldn’t do nothing like that. I been with George a long time. He’ll come back tonight …”. “Don’t you think he will?” At this point the text reads “Crooks’ face lighted up with pleasure in his torture”.
Crooks goes on: “Nobody can’t tell what a guy’ll do”. Crooks continues to push Lennie, asking him what he would do if George does not return. At this Lennie gets angry and shouts “Who hurt George?” Crooks now stops his cruel joke and tries to reassure Lennie that George will soon come back and the he was just “s’posing”. Lennie soon relaxes and sits back down.
Crooks’ problem
Crooks was trying to make a point by torturing Lennie. His point is that Lennie has someone to look after him and that he won’t ever come to harm. This is followed by “S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that?” Crooks spills out his heart to Lennie and tells him about his childhood, how he had 2 brothers to play with and to talk to but Lennie doesn’t pay attention and the conversation goes back to “livin’ offa fatta the lan’”. Crooks goes on that he has seen hundreds of men passing through the ranch with land in their dreams but it comes to nothing.
Candy enters
Candy comes to the barn and asks Crooks if he has seen Lennie. Crooks tells him that Lennie’s in the barn, and Candy comes in. Candy is embarrassed. He has never been into the barn in the whole time he has been there. “You’ve got a nice cosy little place in here” he says to Crooks. “And a manure under the window. Sure it’s swell” Crooks replies. One thing said as Candy enters in the text is “it is difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger”, which shows that for once Crooks has someone to talk to and is happy.
They continue to talk about the land that they are going to get. Soon Crooks realises that it not just a pie in the sky idea and offers his services for free to Lennie and Candy. This shows how desperate Crooks is for friendship.
Curley’s wife
Curley’s wife soon pokes her head in and after looking at the 3 figures says “they left all the weak ones here”. Candy is irritated. Crooks tells her: “Maybe you better go along to your own house now. We don’t want no trouble”. Suddenly she gets all flared up and complains that Curley just talks about boxing and how he’s going to punch up some man, and all she gets to do is stay “in that 2 by 4 house”. She then asks after Curley’s hand and everyone goes silent. Candy then says, “Why … Curley … he got his han’ caught in a machine, m’am, bust his hand”. At once she doesn’t believe him and knows that Curley got into a fight and lost. She asks again: “Who bust him?” Candy once again says, “got it caught in a machine”.
The argument continues but soon she notices the bruises on Lennie’s face and says, “He got his hand caught in a machine. Ok machine. I’ll talk to you later. I like machines”. Candy comes to the defence of Lennie and tells her to leave Lennie alone.
Crooks joins in the attack and says, “I had enough. You got no right comin’ in a coloured’s room. You got no right messing around in here at all. Now just get out and get out quick. Curley’s wife becomes outraged and tells Crooks that he cannot speak to people like that and that she could string him up if she wanted to. Crooks shrinks into a corner and withdraws. Eventually she speaks to Lennie and says she is really glad that he “bust up Curley’s hand” and that Curley had it coming for him. At this she disappears into the dark.
Chapter 5 p. 120
The chapter starts off with a description of the hay barn where Lennie is. He is playing with the dog. He soon realises that he has killed it by stroking it too hard. He gets angry and upset with himself. He throws the corpse across the barn but he cannot stop thinking about it. So he goes and picks it up and eventually covers it up with hay as Curley’s wife comes in. He tries to cover up the pup but knows that Curley’s wife will notice it sooner or later. She asks “what you got covered up there”. Lennie at once realises his guilt and tells her what happened, and that George won’t let him tend the rabbits.
Curley’s wife then tries to soothe Lennie and calm him down. Lennie backs away and says that he is not allowed to be seen with her otherwise George will give him hell.
Curley’s wife begins to pour out her heart to Lennie, that she hates being on her own and Lennie is the only person that she can talk to. This attempt is futile for Lennie pays no attention to her and starts to go into his won world o f rabbits and petting. Curley’s wife asks Lennie to Stroke her hair and says “feel right aroun’ there an’ see how soft it is”. Lennie feels it and begins to mess it up. She complains that he’s messing it up and starts to struggle and Lennie does what he always does when he’s scared: he holds on tighter. As Curley’s wife begins to scream he covers her mouth and says “Don’t you go yellin’” and shook her. The text then reads “and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still”, for Lennie had broken her neck
Lennie at first doesn’t realise what he has done, but the true extent of his actions hits him and he goes off to hide in the brush. As the sun goes down, George and Candy walk in and find the body.