The two men dream of buying a ranch together and start farming. They have been thinking about it for awhile and when Lennie tells Candy about it, Candy becomes very optimistic and invested in the idea. He tells them that he has the money, save in an account, and that in the end of the month they’ll have enough money to buy a ranch.
The only reason Lennie is so invested in the idea, is because George has promisd him that he can look after the rabbits that they will have at the ranch. There’s nothing that Lennie loves more that to pet smooth things. Things that are flufy and soft are hir favourites. He often used to take mice and pet them but they would more than often get killed because Lennie is so strong. Slim does give him a puppy though, that he can pet all he wants as soon as their healthy enough. But of course Lennie can’t control himself.
Nothing happens for awhile. But then one day Curley gets a little crazy looking for his wife. He thinks that she’s with Slim but is too afraid of him and does not want to get into a fight with him. He then picks a fight with Lennie. This ends with Lennie breaking Curley’s hand. Because Curley is mortified that someone actually hust him, he promises to lie that a machine did it to his hand and so does every man that was in sight when it happened.
Later, Lennie is in the barn with his puppy. The puppy has died because Lennie wa stroking him to hard. He’s very scared because he thinks that, now that he’s killed the puppy, George won’t let him take care of the bunnies on their ranch. He gets very angry at the puppy, saying that it is its fault for dying. He calms down a little bit and then Curley’s wife comes into the barn. Lennie says that he isn’t allowed to talk to her. Then she gets angry and starts talking. More to herself though because it seems that Lennie isn’t really listening. She seems to be a very lonely person. She confides in Lennie that she could have been someone, in the movies and when that didn’t work out she married Curly. She also tells him that she doesn’t even like him. They begin to talk about how Lennie likes to pet soft things and she lets him stroke her hair. He begins to do it harder and harder and before you know he has broken her neck, because she was struggling to get loose from him and sreaming.
Lennie decides to run away, to “hide in the brush” as George had instructed him to do if he ever would do something mean/bad again.
The first person to find the body is Candy. He then goes and gets George and they contemplate on what to do. Candy says that maybe the two of them go away and start up a ranch, just like they were all supposed yo do. Then George replies with words that break Candy. That it was never going to happen. Lennie just liked to hear about it and George had been starting to believe it but it wasn’t gonna happen.
George says that he will go back to the house so the guys won’t think that he was in on the murder and Candy then waits a little while.
He gets angry and teary eyed of the prospect of no ranch and gives a stern telling off to the body of Curly’s wife. In the end he goes and tells the guys and they rush into the barn.
Curly decides that they have to look for him and shoot him. They all get their guns and one goes into town to get the police. George tries to reason with Curly. Saying that Lennie didn’t mean it and that there’s no reason to kill Lennie. Curley just tells him that he’s being absurd. That Lennie killed his wife and of course Curley is not going to let him get away with it.
And now we get back to Lennie. He’s hiding in the brush and all of a sudden he sees his Aunt Clara. She speaks in Lennie’s voice and lambasts Lennie for not thinking of George and how George has always been so nice to him. This is all of course in his head and I believe that this is how Lennie himself thinks. Aunt Clara leaves and a rabbit, talking in Lennie’s voice also, appears. It says that Lennie could never take care of any rabbits and says that George is more important/a better person than he is. Then the rabbit keeps on saying that George is gonna be violent towards him him when he is found and Lennie becomes frantic repeating George’s name over and over again. The the rabbit disappears and George appears.
George is not happy but he’s not mad either. I’d say he was sad. He doesn’t get angry at Lennie but he really isn’t happy to see him either.
And soon we realize why. George has taken Carlson’s Luger and is going to shoot Lennie. He tells Lennie to look across the pond and imagine their ranch. Then he shoots him in the back of the head.
The story ends with the guys flocking to the body and Slim taking a broken George away from Lennie.
Characters:
Lennie Small and George Milton are the most significant characters in this novel.
George is a small man, the smarter of the two. Lennie on the other hand is a very big man but not at all smart. He has some kind of a disorder, it isn’t specified in the book though what it is.George threatens Lennie quite a lot, mainly (probably) because nothing else seems to get through to him and of course because Lennie is such a nice and kind hearted human being. Lennie would never even think about hurting George even though George imitates him.
Lennie’s very sensitive and being yelled at and called names often triggers his emotions and he starts crying which George feels is a sign of weakness and is something a grown man should not be doing. Although if George is he one to make him cry he quickly apologizes and makes his friend feel alright. So you could say he is compassionate towards him at times.
Lennie is very fond of animals, especially animals that are soft like mice but he can’t be trusted with them since he always winds up killing them by mistake. He’s very strong but since he is slow he doesn’t realize just how powerful he is. George often mentions that life without Lennie would be much better. He could have a steady job, a girl and he wouldn’t get into trouble so often. I do believe though that he wouldn’t have it any other way and that he’s very happy that Lennie is with him.
Some other characters include;
Crooks: He’s black and constantly called a nigger. He lives alone in the barn of the ranch and doesn’t get any visitors.
He holds a protective shield over himself which kinda loosens when Lennie and Candy visit him but in the end he keeps up his tough guy act and doesn’t let anyone in to meet the real Crooks.
Candy: Candy is an old man that has been working at the ranch for quite some time. He had a dog that was taken and shot because it was far too old and they wanted to put it out of its misery. He also only has one arm, or more like an arm and a half because his arm below the elbow is just a stump.
He has been saving his money and when he hears about George and Lennie’s plans to buy a ranch he becomes quickly involved.
Curley’s wife: She seems to be very lonely. Her husband does not trust her and she is referred to as a “tart” by the other men. She is accidentally killed by Lennie in the end of the book when she insists on him stroking her hair.
The fact that she is not even called by her name in the book, only as Curley’s wife, shows that she is clearly not treated with any respect and isn’t really supposed to be thought of as a person.
Curley: The boss’s son. He’s supposed to be the “bad” one in this book. He’s portrayed as a spoiled little boy (even though he is a married man). He’s a very jealous man and dislikes Lennie from the moment he lays eyes on him.
Slim: He may not be a very significant character to the plot but he still is the only one that Curley actually treats with respect. He is respected by everyone on the ranch and he does help George in the end of the book.
These are the ones that I think are significant to the developement of the story but there are a couple of more characters. I will just name them.
They are; Carlson. (A ranch hand, George steals his gun).
Whit. (Also a ranch hand).
The Boss. (The owner of the ranch. Curley’s dad. Is barely seen in the book).
My Opinion:
This is a very good story that really reflects on how things were in America during those times.
I presume the words in the book are written like people pronounced them, kinda like Halldór Laxness did here in Iceland. I haven’t read anything else by this author, although I have heard of “The Grapes of Wrath” and therefore I do not know of he writes all of his books like that or if maybe this is just a one off. Either way I find it a little difficult to read. I got fixtated on how the words sound or are written as oppose to just enjoying the story. I do believe I got it though. I will admit that it wasn’t my first time reading it. We had it in English class in my old school back in 2004 when I was in 8th grade. But I didn’t remember much of it and it was good to get a chance to brush up on it a little bit.
Regarding the ending of the story. I really believed that George was gonna shoot himself after he killed Lennie, because of the way he was talking about the ranch. That they would soon meet up, but I do realize that maybe that would have been too much.
In the end, regardless of George killing Lennie, it is a beautiful story about friendship between two very different men and how, when push comes to shove, they will stick together or as George did: He freed Lennie from a fate that he didn’t deserve and would never have understood.
