Summary

The story is about two friends: the smart, little George and his simple-minded, great friend Lennie. Lennie is always in trouble and George is helps him out of it. George is like a guardian for Lennie.

George and Lennie are looking for work on a farm in Weed, after being chased after an incident in another village. They want here to earn enough money to make their dream come true: buying a farm, live of their own food and Lennie keeping a few animals. Lennie likes animals very much, because they’re so soft when he strokes them. Unfortunately, he kill them all unintentional. Because of his enormous length and great strength. George also keeps him at the bay, saying that he’s no longer allowed to keep rabbits if he gets into trouble. If Lennie gets into big trouble, he has to hide in the bushes near a river, waiting for George to look for him. On the farm George and Lennie meet a few people: the boss, Slim, Curley, Carlson, Candy an Whit Curley is married to a woman who is constantly flirting  with all of the guys and she causes problems for them. Slim had a dog who gave birth to nine puppies. Lennie likes the dogs a lot and is staying with them every night.

Slim and George are getting a tighter bond in the meantime. Candy had an old dog, which he had since he was a child. The other guys dislike the dog, because he stinks and hardly can walk. That’s the reason why Carlson shoot him. Candy is upset and goes along with the dream of George and Lennie. Together they decide to continue work, so they will have enough money for their own farm. Curley hates Lennie, because Lennie is a huge guy. When Curley starts a fight with Lennie and hit him in the face, Lennie grabs Curley’s fist and crushed him. After the fight, they agreed that Curley has had an accident with a machine. In this way, George and Lennie wouldn’t be fired. It was Sunday afternoon. Curley’s wife goes to the barn where Lennie is playing with the dog.

 Lennie accidentally killed him and he’s afraid that George won’t let him keep rabbits. Lennie is afraid he will get into trouble. But she doesn’t care and begins to talk about her childhood and Lennie talks about his dream and rabbits. Then she says that her hair is very smooth and Lennie strokes het hair, but he doesn’t let go and she starts to scream. Lennie, who is afraid that other people hear them, put his hand on her mouth and shake it together. He does it so fiercely that he broke her neck. He places the corpse on the straw and runs away. Candy and George come bake and find the dead body. They agreed that Candy warns the others, because otherwise George also would be suspected. George goes to the bush and finds Lennie sitting over there. George sits next to Lennie, he says to Lennie to look the other way and has to imagine the farm from their dream. Then George shoots Lennie in the head.

Title

The title is linked to a poem from Robert Bums; ‘To a Mouse’. In this poem a mouse had built a nest, so he can survive in it in the winter. But the farmer destroys it. The story is also about a relationship between a man and animals. And also between two very different men. Both falls. This idea forms the background of the story.

Novel

Of Mice and Men was first written in the form of a novel-play termed a “play-novelette” by one critic. Structured in three acts of two chapters each, it is intended to be both a novella and a for a play. Steinbeck wanted to a play that could be read like a novel, or that could be played from the lines.

Characters

• George Milton is a little, smart guy. He is Lennie’s best friend and always helps Lennie to get out of trouble. He is very patient with Lennie and together they dream of a better future.
• Lennie Small is a simple-minded guy, but very big and strong. He like to pet soft tings. He is very clumsy and doesn’t know his own strength. 
• Candy, Crooks, Curley, Carlson and Curley’s wife are people who are working on the ranch

 George and Lennie are good old friend, traveling together to find work. They want to make a lot of money, so they can buy their own small place and have different animals. Candy wants to be a part of the dream of George and Lennie. He has some money saved, that hen will use to buy a farm with George and Lennie. We are dealing with round characters. In the story is told that Crooks sleeps in a separate room and there are no white skinned people allowed to enter his room. When Lennie comes into the  room, the character of Crooks suddenly changed. 

Yes, the characters have developments.  After a long friendship between George and Lennie, the  story ends without Lennie. George gave up his good friend by shooting him. Lennie’s memory is getting a little bit better in course of time. He can remember that he has to goto the bushes when something terrible happened and George will come to look for him. 

Theme

The play is about the friendship between George and Lennie who are trying to make their dream come true. 

Time and Place

The story is set in the thirties in the town of Soledad. It is located near San Francisco in the USA. 

Chapters

The novel has 6 chapters. These chapters don’t have titles. 

Time Sequence

The story is told chronologically. 

Perspective

• It is told in the third person and sometimes a dialogue between the characters.
• The author use old English and there is a lot of

swearing in the story. Sometimes it is hard to understand what the author means, because of the old English. But after reading a while,you’ll understand it better than first. The novel has an open ending, it can go any direction.

Writer’s background

John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. He was of German-American and Irish-American descent. He studied at Stanford University, but left without a degree and after a series of laboring jobs, he began to write.During his childhood he lived in a rural town in California. John became aware of the harder aspects of life and you can find them in his novels. The rough way of life that is exploited in                                                     

My opinion

I really think that the book is interesting. It’s different from all the other books I have ever read. The last part of the story was very shocking for me, when Lennie was shot by George. I didn’t expected that it would end like this. Just like the moment when Lennie broke Curley’s wife neck. It was a short story and that’s a pity. But even though the book was small, it had a great story in it. I could really imagine the faces from the people and the places they were staying. The author did a good job!