Of Mice and Men by John Stienbeck

I read a book called “ Of Mice and Men “ By: John Stienbeck In the beginning of the story, two men named George Milton and Lennie Small are trying to make their way to a small ranch in Salinas Valley, California. George is the leader of their two-man tribe, despite Lennie’s intimidating size. George is filled with

Determination and confidence while Lennie is a simple man with a big heart. Up north, they had recently been run out of a town called Weed on account of Lennie. First of all, Lennie is not very smart, and becomes frightened and confused easily. Also, he enjoys petting animals and feeling things that grab his attention. One night in Weed, Lennie and George had gone to a pool hall. Lennie saw a girl wearing a bright red dress. He grabbed on to the sleeve of her dress. The girl became scared and screamed; this frightened Lennie. He did not know what to do so he held on to the dress tighter. The next day, George found out that the girl went to the police and pressed charges against Lennie. The police were all over town looking for him. George and Lennie escaped by hiding in an irrigation ditch until nightfall and then leaving town. After that, they hitchhiked all the way to Salinas Valley, California where the story continues.

The next day they arrived at their destination, the ranch where the two would be working. That day, they met someone named Candy. He was an old man who had been working on the farm for many years. He also had an old dog. It was so stiff with rheumatism it could hardly walk. A few minutes later, someone else walked into the bunk. His name was Curly and he was the boss’s son. Curly was extremely hostile towards the newcomers, especially Lennie. George predicts Curly will present future problems and advises Lennie to keep out of Curley’s way. George is trying to keep Lennie from getting into trouble again, so when they meet Curley’s flirtatious wife, George advises Lennie never to talk to her. Later that day, they also meet some of the other ranch hands, Slim, Whit and Carlson. That night, Slim gave Lennie of his newborn puppies. Lennie was so overjoyed that he stayed out in the barn half the night petting it. While Lennie was in the barn something was going on in the bunkhouse. Carlson was trying to persuade Candy to let him shoot his dog. Carlson argued that the dog was old, sick and miserable and that ending its suffering would be the best thing to do for the dog.

After a few minutes, of thought Candy wearily agreed. So Carlson took the old, weary dog outside put a gun to the back of the dog’s head and pulled the trigger. A few minutes later, Lennie returned to the bunkhouse from the barn. Then he asked George to repeat their dream as he often did. So George began again. When we get enough money we are going to have a little house, a few acres of land, and a few animals. We will be our own bosses and do what we want to do. Candy was still in the room and got very excited at hearing this that he asked if he could go in on it with them. George hesitated until he heard how much money Candy had saved up and then he agreed that he could be included in their dream. When Curly came back into the bunkhouse, Lennie was still smiling at the thought of his dream. Curly thought Lennie was laughing at him and began to pick a fight.