Scott Hackney

Scott Hackney

Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

Holiday

Just Finished

1.         When the other men of the ranch are in a horseshoe tournament Lennie is in the barn with the pups. He is sitting where the pups sleep; in his lap there is his dead puppy. He just killed him by accident because the pup bit him then Lennie smacked the pup when it bit him. Since Lennie is so strong the smack killed the pup. After Lennie stared at the pup for a while Curley’s wife came in. She came in so quietly that Lennie didn’t notice her until she said something. Lennie started talking about how he, George and Candy are going to have a little house with rabbits and a small farm. After talking about the dead pup and how Lennie likes soft things, Curley’s wife asks if Lennie would like to touch her hair. When she tells him to let go Lennie panics and holds on. Curley’s wife starts to flail and by Lennie holding on too tight and her flailing Lennie breaks her neck. He knows that he has done something bad and heads to the river where George told him to go if he got in trouble. Candy walks in to the barn to tell Lennie something and finds Curley’s wife dead. He runs out to tell the others; after they have gotten together they go out to get Lennie. George is the first to find Lennie because he knows where he went. George finds Lennie and tells him how they are going to have a farm and rabbits; all this time George has a gun pointed at Lennie’s head. He finally shoots the gun and kills Lennie. The others arrive and after telling George it was the right thing to do Slim and George leave the ranch.                             

2.         I feel like the novel is very detailed but at the same time the book was very short. I think it was a good combo of detailed but not too much detail; it didn’t make the book too boring and not too short. The detail makes the book a good book and if it didn’t have this detail I think it would have not been a classic. The author uses the detail for foreshadowing; he puts many hints of foreshadowing throughout the book.

3.         I think that the theme is loneliness; many people in the book are lonely and want to be with people. One of the people tat is lonely is Crooks, he is alone in the stable behind the horses and he doesn’t go into the bunkhouse. The others don’t visit him and he doesn’t visit them. When Lennie and Candy were telling him about how they were going to have a little farm and rabbits he wanted to join them but then he decided that he didn’t. Crooks was always only lonely and when he had a chance to be with other people he denied it.

4.         My favorite character in the novel is probably George. He is always looking after Lennie and helping him and his friends When Lennie gets in trouble George is always there to help him. This happened in Weed when George help Lennie escape the mob that wanted to get him. George is also loyal; he could leave Lennie and not help him. There are many times when it would be easy to leave Lennie and live his life without having to worry about Lennie. George help Lennie get work so he can support himself.

5.         My least favorite character is Curley. He is very cocky and he tries to make himself look bigger than he is. When he walked into the bunkhouse he always tries to pick on Lennie because he wants to show off to everybody else by taking down a big strong person. In the end Lennie destroyed Curley’s hand, they had to make up a cover story it was so bad. Another way he shows off is by his wife; he just married her because she was pretty. Curley’s wife tells Lennie that Curley is mean to her and doesn’t even love her.

6.         I was expecting the ending of the book. John Steinbeck gave many hints throughout the book that Lennie was going to kill Curley’s wife. One thing that I wasn’t suspecting is that George kills Lennie. I thought it would be Curley because he has always hated Lennie. Now he has a chance to kill him and get revenge for breaking his hand. The very end is also strange; I didn’t get when it said that George and Slim walked off to the highway. I didn’t know if they were going to town or leaving the ranch for good.