Of Mice and Men Book Report

“Of Mice and Men” is a classic novella composed by John Steinbeck and published in 1937. The world within the novella is based on the author’s own experiences working as a farmhand in the 1920s and the title of the book is taken from the Robert Burns poem, “To a mouse” which mentions: “The finest laid schemes of mice and men/ Often go awry”.

“Of Mice and Men” is thought about as an American classic and is frequently required reading in schools.

The main themes are the impossibility of attaining the American dream and the impenetrable nature of male relationships. The world that the characters live in is well described by Steinbeck and made to be relate-able although the issues they face are possibly more involved then most of us have to handle.

Summary
George Milton and Lennie Small are two poor plantation employees who are attempting to manage during the Great Depression in 1930’s America. It becomes clear from at an early stage that Lennie, a loping giant of a man, has a psychological disability and that George, smaller and wirier, is not only his good friend however something of a protector. Although Lennie’s impairment and shortcomings seem to annoy George a lot. When the book opens, the two guys are on their method to a brand-new ranch in another part of California to work. Nevertheless, the bus chauffeur taking them there erroneously dropped them off in the wrong place and now they have rather a range to walk prior to they get there. As they stroll, the men discuss their imagine owning their own farm where they can raise food, livestock, and keep rabbits. Lennie is most thinking about the rabbits as he has a fascination with petting soft things.

However, Lennie’s preference for soft things has gotten him into trouble prior to. We find out that he has a history of ‘breaking’ little animals when trying to show them, love, due to the fact that he does not know his own strength. We also discover of one incident have Lennie stroked the material of a lady’s gown and would not let go. The result was that individuals of the town Weed thought he’d assaulted the lady and ran he and George out of town entirely.

George and Lennie decide to camp in cleaning for the night and have a bean dinner after which George tells Lennie that if anything goes wrong while operating at the cattle ranch he is to go back to that cleaning and hide in the bushes so he can be safe while waiting for George to come to find him. The next day the two guys come to the ranch and are greeted by a male named Candy who is an old handyman with only one hand and an older, half-blind sheepdog that he takes a lot of pride in. Candy shows them around the bunkhouse where they will be remaining. George asks him about their boss and Candy informs him that although he was a bit perturbed about their late arrival, in general, he is a great man. Quickly the one in charge appears and asks the men about their lateness. George recounts the story of the bus motorist dropping them off at the wrong place. The boss notices that George has a tendency to speak for Lennie and asks him about it. George lies, informing him that Lennie is a cousin of his that was begun the head by a horse when he was young and, due to the fact that he is family, George feels that he needs to watch out for him. The boss seems placated however still suspicious. He appoints the two men to work under a male called Slim. Right after the one in charge leaves his boy, Curley gets here. Curley is an ex-boxer and a really short man who certainly feels that he has something to show to the world.

Curley instantly begins bugging Lennie, sensing weaker victims and needs that the “big person talk”. After he leaves, Candy notifies George that Curley has resentment towards big males because of his brief stature which his temper has actually only worsened since he wed a lady who likes to flirt with the ranch hands. As if she was summoned, Curley’s wife appears and flirts with both of the men. She asks where her hubby is and George informs her that he just left. After she leaves, Lennie talks about how ‘purty’ he finds her, and George right away cautions him to remain far away from her. Lennie gets frightened of George’s sudden change in attitude, but concurs. Later on, Slim introduces himself to the men and they are impressed by his rather manner and the way the other men clearly respect him. Slim asks Candy about the young puppies that his sheepdog simply had and Lennie gets excited over the prospect of having a pup around.

Beyond the bunkhouse, dinner is served. George sees Curley again and fears that he will wind up “tangling” with him at some time. At the end of their workday, Slim agrees to give Lennie one of the pups from the sheep pet dog. George thanks him and informs him that Lennie will take care of it which, while he is ‘dumb as hell’ he doesn’t imply or insane on top of that. Privately, George confides in Slim the story of how it was that he happened Lennie’s caretaker in the first place.

George and Lennie were born in the very same town and after the death of Lennie’s aunt Clara, George organized him. He admits to slim that, initially he treated Lennie badly and would get him to do ridiculous or perhaps unsafe things for his own home entertainment. However, after informing Lennie to jump into a river and nearly enjoying him drown, George, felt so embarrassed of his treatment of Lennie that he reformed and started securing him rather.

George was the one to strike Lennie over the head to make him release the lady whose dress he had actually been clinging to prior to they were tossed out of the town of Weed and George assisted Lennie to conceal in a ditch afterward so they could get away the lynch mob when the girl implicated him of rape. Soon, Candy and another ranch hand called Carlson appear. Carlson is complaining about Candy’s sheep pet dog, saying that it stinks and is old and sick. Carlson thinks it ought to be put out of its torment by taking it shooting and outdoors it. He offers to do this in addition to bury it and after some reluctance, Candy finally concurs. Carlson takes the pet dog outdoors and after a few minutes of silence the men hear a shot ring out. Candy is so upset that all he can do is turn and face the wall of the bunkhouse.

Later on, the men play cards and discuss Curley’s other half. They are certain that she will eventually ’cause problem’ for among the men. As if by design, Curley bursts into the bunker and demands to understand where his wife is. He asks where Slim is. The men inform him that Slim remains in the barn and 2 of the other ranch hands follow him out there, hoping to see a fight. George asks Lennie, who was just in the bartending to the puppies, whether he saw Slim with Curley’s wife in there. Lennie verifies that he didn’t and after that asks George to once again tell his preferred story, the description of the farm they’re going to buy. As he talks, Candy becomes interested in the description and asks George if they already have a place chosen. George says that they do. Candy tells them that he fears the cattle ranch is going to let him go quickly because of his aging and asks if he could reside on their farm with them if he contributes his life savings to buy it. After some deliberation, George and Lennie concur that he can come with them and that, with pooling their 3 incomes together, just a month of deal with the ranch will be needed to pay for to buy the farm. George warns the two men to keep their strategy a secret.

The other men return from the barn and Curley says sorry to Slim for presuming him of sleeping with his wife. But Curley is still frustrated from the men buffooning him and understanding that Slim is too fit for him to effectively win versus in a battle, chooses to take his frustrations out on Lennie instead. Curley attacks Lennie, tossing punches and George, who can not interfere for worry of being fired, urges Lennie to combat back. Lennie does, quickly breaking the smaller sized guy’s hand. Because it would make him the laughingstock of the ranch, slim cautions Curley not to have Lennie and George fired. Curley reluctantly agrees.

The next evening, Lennie forgets his pledge to George and tells the story of the secret farm to Crooks, another ranch hand who is called for his uneven back. Scoundrels do not think him and says that he has heard countless ranch hands regale him with the same dream and that a small piece of land is as tough to discover for guys residing in these conditions as heaven. Criminals talks a bit about his childhood, when his family was the only black household in their county. He tells Lennie that he was cautioned not to play with white children and has actually since felt bitter the social standards that separate black individuals from white individuals. One of these constraints is the fact that Crooks needs to oversleep a different location of the cattle ranch then the remainder of the farmhands, an old stable. Sweet appears and goes to Crooks for the first time in all the years that they have interacted. There is an undercurrent of awkwardness however the men soon warm to each other’s business and Crooks takes pleasure in having visitors. Candy tells Lennie that he has actually been considering it and might know of a way that their farm can earn money with the bunnies that Lennie so desperately wishes to keep. Criminals tell Candy that he is dubious of their concept till Candy tells him that they already have a farm selected and are planning to move there in a month. This interests Crooks, and he asks if they’d think about taking him with them.

Prior to they can address, Curley’s spouse appears inquiring about her spouse’s whereabouts and then revealing that she understands that he took a few of the ranch hands to a brothel. She rudely insinuates that he left the three of them there since they are weak. The men inform her to go away and firmly insist that even if she did get them fired, they could easily go off and buy their own location to live. Curley’s spouse starts discussing her unhappy marital relationship and confesses that she wants business so badly that she went so far as to seek them out even though that makes her feel worthless. She pokes fun at Lennie’s battle with her spouse and Crooks gets upset, asking her to leave once again. He states that he will tell in charge, Curely’s dad about her indiscretions.

She asks him if he has any idea what she might do to him if he did tell on her, the ramification being that she would have him lynched. This scares Crooks, and he backs down. Soon, Curely’s other half hears the other men coming back and leaves anyhow, informing Lennie that she’s pleased that he battered her spouse. George comes in and scolds Candy for telling Crooks about their farm. Criminals states that he has actually changed his mind about going with them to the farm anyhow, which he ‘wouldn’ wish to go no location like that’.

That Sunday, Lennie is sitting in the barn stroking the puppy, who has actually died. It’s obvious that he incorrectly squashed it after revealing too much love like he finished with the other animals from his youth. When he discovers out that the pup is dead, Lennie is terrified of how George is going to react. He stresses that George will change his mind about letting him look after the rabbits on their farm, but then wonders if George may not care about the pups death considering that he wasn’t that bought the pet anyhow.

Curley’s other half is available in and sits down next to Lennie. She consoles him about the dead pup and assures him that it’s safe for them to talk although George alerted Lennie not to speak to her. She informs Lennie a bit about her life and about how lonesome and unhappy she is being married to Curley, whom she hates. Lennie admits his fascination with soft things and she provides to let him stroke her hair. She cautions him to be mild but he rapidly ends up being too fired up and grabs onto it, frightening her. She shrieks, however Lennie stresses and puts a hand over her mouth to silence her. She struggles to escape but, in another screen of not knowing his own strength, Lennie attempts to hold her still too tightly and mistakenly snaps her neck.

Panicking, Lennie attempts to bury Curley’s wife in the hay as he’d tried to do with the dead young puppy. When that doesn’t work he gets away with the dead puppy in his hand, mostly stressed that George will be angry at him. Candy comes searching for Lennie and finds Curley’s spouse’s body. He requires George who recognizes rapidly what happened.

George expresses the hope that Lennie will simply be put in jail, but still looked after and Candy opposes that, guaranteeing him that Curley will set out to have Lennie lynched. Sweet asks George if the two of them can still buy the farm and George informs him that he doesn’t see that occurring without Lennie. He confides that he never truly believed they’d have the ability to buy the farm but considering that Lennie was so purchased the idea he had actually lately started to believe it himself. George tells Candy to tell the other men about the body, but not that he himself understands, lest the other men think that he had something to do with Lennie eliminating her. Candy does as he asks and the other men collect in the barn to look at the body. George is available in the last and acts stunned to see the body in keeping with his plan. Curely is infuriated and needs that the men form a lynch mob to find and kill Lennie. Carlson’s weapon is soon found to be missing out on and Curley takes up Crooks shotgun rather to head the mob. In the clearing where the story started, Lennie is waiting in the bushes like George told him to and congratulates himself on being smart sufficient to keep in mind to go there to wait.

While waiting, Lennie hallucinates visions of his auntie Clara, who speaks in his own voice to inform him not listening to George and getting himself in more difficulty. Lennie also sees a vision of a giant rabbit who tells him that George will most likely beat him and desert him. Quickly, George himself appears and is despondent and plainly saddened by the actions of his good friend. Lennie provides to live and go in a cave, as he normally does when George is mad at him and George informs him to remain, offering Lennie hope that he’s not mad. Lennie asks George to inform him the story of the farm again and as George tells it to him he asks Lennie to take of his hat and look throughout the river. George informs him about the bunnies and how nobody will ever suggest to him again and Lennie, who is obviously upset, requests that they go to the farm now. George brings and agrees out Carlson’s weapon which he had taken and concealed in his jacket. He shoots Lennie in the head and tosses the gun away.

The noise of the gunshot brings the other men to the cleaning and George tells them that he found Lennie and battled the weapon away from him, shooting him in the process. Just Slim knows the reality, and he guarantees George that he did the right thing. Slim leads George back to the cattle ranch while Carlson and Curley view in confusion, questioning why they’re so upset.

Genre: novella

Location: California

Time: 1930’s, The Great Depression in the US