Of Mice And Men John Steinbeck
Dec 02, 2014
Of Mice And Men
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
• Born in 1902 Salinas, California
• Many different jobs• First book 1929• The Grapes of Wrath,
East of Eden, The Red Pony…
• Famous around the world
• Died in 1968
”Do you remember Weed?”
”And you won’t do any bad things?” George demanded. ”Do you remember Weed?”
”What happened in Weed, George? I don’t remember.”
”You forgot that, too? There was trouble in Weed, Lennie.”
” I remember,” said Lennie, ”they chased us out of town…”
Characters: Lennie and George
• Lennie:
big, friendly, animals,
soft things, not intelligent, big baby too strong
- George:
best friend, smarter, help
The two friends
Work on farms
Country
Plan for the future:
Buy a farm: animals and vegetables
First: money
Lennie: stay out of trouble
• Work at farm• The bunkhouse
Curley
• the boss’s son:• Little man, hates big,
strong men, wants to fight
• ”Stay away from him”• ”When there’s trouble:
Place by the river, wait in the woods.”
Curley’s wife• ”she likes men”• ”a dangerous woman”• Beautiful• Lennie likes her• ”Don’t talk to her, we
have to be careful”• could have been
something• Lonely, like a prisoner• ””Why won’t you talk
to me?”
• Slim• Lennie gets puppy
• Candy, old man, can’t do a lot of work
• Will have to leave, won’t have a place
• Wants to join Lennie and George
• Has money – dream can become true!
Trouble with Curley
• Curley thinks Slim is with his wife - wrong
• Comes into the bunkhouse, is told to stay home with his wife – gets angry
• Lennie looks happy (is thinking of the farm)
• Curly hits Lennie twice• Lennie crushes his hand• ”caught in a machine”
Accidents
• Sunday afternoon, men played games
• Lennie in farm building – puppy dead
• Petted it too hard –accident
• Curleys wife comes in, talks to him, lets Lennie stroke her hair
• Tells him to stop, he panics, breaks her neck
The end
• Lennie understands: did a ”bad thing”• Remembers: George had told him to run to the
river, hide, and wait for George• Waits, afraid that George will be angry• George comes, says that he’s not angry, makes
Lennie calm by telling the story of their farm• Men chasing Lennie are getting close• George shoots Lennie in the back of his head