Caroline Bennett

Caroline Bennett
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Historical Fiction
Challenge

1) The ending of Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck was different than any other books that I've read. There was a lot of foreshadowing in this book that lead up to the ending. In the end of the book, Lennie kills Curly's wife. However, Lennie kills her by accident. This is like a lot of other times in the book when Lennie does something bad without meaning to. For example, Lennie was watching the puppies and when one of the puppies looked like he might bite him, Lennie hits him on the head and kills him. Lennie didn't mean to hurt the puppy, he was just scared. Just like he was scared around Curly's wife. Lennie was touching her hair and when she said not to, he grabbed tighter and ended up breaking her back which killed her. After Lennie killed Curly's wife, he went to the safe place George had told him to go to. After Curly and the other men found out what Lennie had done they grabbed their guns and set out after Lennie. George didn't want Lennie to be tortured so he went to the river bank and told Lennie to look out at the river and think about the great life they would have together. Then George shot him.

2) I really didn't like this book. I know it is a classic and supposed to be really well written but I feel the plot is boring. Their wasn't much to the plot and it was pretty simple. The characters were well developed but they didn't have very interesting lives. I didn't really think about the themes until we talked about them in class. And I didn't realize how significant they were until other people pointed them out to me. I think people read way too much into the plot and try to pick out themes that aren't there. I found it hard to focus on the book when the author got into so much detail about the setting. I have not read this book before and I don't think I have read any other books by this author.

3) There were many themes that stood out to me throughout this book but the one that stood out the most would have to be family as a curse. Although George does care about Lennie, Lennie is a little bit of a curse on George. If George didn't have the responsibility of taking care of Lennie, he might have gotten more in life. George wants to own land and Lennie holds him back because of his disabilities. George and Lennie are family although they are not directly related, they still care about each other and live with each other. And Curly is a curse on his wife. Curly's wife wanted to be in show business and when she married Curly the idea was no longer a possibility. Curly's wife feels that if Curly and other people didn't hold her back she could have done something more with her life. And that they are a curse.

4) My favorite character is Lennie. I really like Lennie because he is so kind. Lennie has some mental disabilities but he is a very loving and kind person. I feel that even though no one is really friends with Lennie, except George, he is still the most likable person. Even though Lennie has made many mistakes, he never means to hurt anyone and he always has everyone best interest at heart. I was very upset when Lennie was killed because I liked his character a lot.

5) My least favorite character is Curly's wife. She isn't as mean as some of the other characters in the book but she is still a mean person. I think one of the worst things Curly's wife did was to flirt with Lennie. That was really awful of her to do because I think she knew what she was doing and was trying to get Lennie in trouble. Curly's wife is a very sneaky character. She also thinks she is better than everyone else which bothers me. For example, she kept talking about how she was going to be a movie star and how everyone else was holding her back.

6) I already knew what was going to happen at the end of the book because I watched a show called The Middle and they said the ending of the book. I think if I hadn't seen that episode of The Middle then I wouldn't have known exactly what would happen. There was a lot of foreshadowing that helps you get an idea of what might happen in the end. I can't say for sure if I would have seen the foreshadowing and known that George would kill Lennie, but I would've had a general idea that Lennie would do something bad.