Hank Reinhart

Hank Reinhart
Of Mice And Men
John Steinbeck
Realistic Fiction
Just Right
Just Finished

  1.                  Lennie is in a farm house petting a pup. It is dead. Like most things Lennie pets, he either gets scared and crushes them or just crushes them by petting them. He is a very strong guy. Lennie also has a mental disorder which makes him not think correctly but can still understand what to do. While he's in the farmhouse, Curly's wife sneaks up to him and sits with him. Now George (Lennie's friend) told Lennie earlier in the book to stay away from her because she's trouble, so this foreshadows something bad will happen. When Curly's wife sits down Lennie says he is told not to talk to her but Curly's wife changes the subject by saying how lonely she is. This conversation then leads to another where Curly's wife talks about all the dreams she has had and how they didn't come true and how she's trying to make them come true. After all that Lennie starts talking about the dream him and George are going to have. Like how they are going to own land and how Lennie gets to tend the rabbits, like he has talked about all story. Curly's wife says he's nuts. Then both of them start talking about soft things because Lennie likes to pet soft things. Curly's wife says her hair is soft and offers Lennie to pet it. That's where the trouble begins. When Lennie starts petting it Curly's wife tells him to stop because he's messing her hair up, but Lennie doesn't. She starts thrashing her hair away but Lennie hangs on panicked. She starts screaming and Lennie gets scared because if George hears her then Lennie won't get to tend the rabbits. So Lennie gets mad. He starts shaking Curly's wife violently telling her to stop because he'll get in trouble. When he lets go Curly's wife is still because Lennie broke her neck because of his strength. Lennie soon realizes he has done a bad thing and runs to a brush George told him earlier in the story to go to if he got in trouble. A few hours later George and the rest of the workers go to the farmhouse to see Curly's wife is dead. Instantly George knows Lennie killed her and heads to the brush by the river. When he gets there Lennie is by the river. George takes Carlson's gun and walks up to Lennie. But because George and Lennie have been friends for a long time so George tells Lennie about their dream to get Lennie distracted and to save a memory. After he  finishes George shoots Lennie in the neck and he dies. After George walks back to the bunkhouse with Slim.

2.                     This was a really fun and interesting book to read. The reason was there was a lot of foreshadowing and very time I reread something I find something I didn't see before. John Steinbeck's style in this book was liken other I've seen before. Because the book was taken place in California back in the 1920's he used words that they used back then. There was a lot of slang and words shortened like "ain't" or "takin'". At first it was hard to understand and get used to but it got easier as I got further in the book. The plot was also very good. For me it was about George and Lennie forfilling the American dream. There could have been a lot of different plots based on how you read the book, but I thought the plot was based on the American dream. Throughout the book George and Lennie kept talking about their dream of having land, a family, and money. This dream was a major part in the book because it changed the character thoughts and how they wanted to join the dream. Another thing I liked about the author was the foreshadowing that lead up to Lennie killing Curly's wife. The first part was when they talked about why they left their old job in Weed. The reason was that Lennie pet a girl's dress because it was soft and they got accused of rape and chased out of town. The second part was at the beginning of the book When George told Lennie if he got in trouble he should got to the brush by the river. That foreshadowed something bad was going to happen. The third was Lennie's strength. He was so strong that he killed a mouse, dog, broke Curly's hand, and killed Curly's wife. The last foreshadowing was when George told Lennie not to talk to Curly's wife because she's dangerous. this foreshadowed if Lennie talked to her something bad would happen. Overall I thought this was a gripping tale and it was exciting. Only the author of this book could have made the plot as exciting as it was and make the story great.

3.                      The theme of this book was loneliness. I chose this theme because it was portrayed throughout the book. All of the characters felt loneliness except for George and Lennie because they were together as a family. Candy felt loneliness after his dog died because it was his closest friend and family member. Curly's wife felt loneliness because she had restrictions from Curly. She wasn't allowed to leave the house often and she couldn't talk to anyone but Curly. Crooks felt loneliness because he was discriminated. Because he was black he wasn't allowed to play games like cards with the workers. Also no one visited his shack because he was black. He was also made fun of and called names by the workers. Loneliness also changed the characters actions. One example would be that after Candy's dog died he wanted to join in on George and Lennie's plan to for-fill the American dream. Because of all this evidence I chose loneliness as my theme.

4.                      My favorite character was Lennie. One thing I liked about Lennie was that he was really strong. Despite the fact that his strength killed things it was also a positive thing. It helped him work hard at his job and helped out George a lot. Also he could fight for himself. In the story, Curly picks a fight with him and when Lennie grabs his hand he crashes it so all the bones in Curly's hand are broken. Another thing I liked about Lennie was his personality. Lennie was really obedient, especially two George. In the beginning of the story Lennie was petting a mouse and George asked him to hand it over. Even though Lennie liked the mouse, he handed it over. Lennie was also really nice. In the story, I think Lennie was the only nice person to Crooks because he visited his shack. Also after the fight between Curly and Lennie, Lennie never meant to hurt Curly, he just got instructions from George to defend. These reasons are why Lennie is my favorite character.

5.                      My least favorite character was Curly. One reason Curly was my least favorite character is because he fought Lennie for no reason. Curly was only intimidated by Lennie because he was big and Curly wasn't. Curly is a real jerk because he hates all big guys. Also Curly was really cocky because his dad was the boss of the ranch. Curly was also really mean to his wife because of all the restrictions he put on her. Curly's wife even said she didn't like him because he was so mean. Even though Curly wasn't in the book that much, I still didn't like him.

6.                       The ending was nothing like I excepted. When Curly's wife came into the farmhouse something bad would happen because of all the foreshadowing that had happened. But I never thought Lennie would kill her. Also when George met up with Lennie at the bush I didn't think George would kill Lennie. I excepted George and Lennie to flee like they did in Weed. Also if anyone was to kill Lennie I thought it was going to be Curly because it was his wife. This shows you even with all the foreshadowing in the story, the ending will never be what you predict.