Sean Dougherty Block A

Sean Dougherty

Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

Realistic Fiction

Just Right

Just Finished

1.     The book Of Mice of Men by John Steinbeck is about the non-traditional family of George and Lennie. George and Lennie are ranchers during the Great Depression looking to reach the American Dream. However an action of Lennie’s has set that goal as good as done. Lennie is mentally crippled; he has bad memory and panics when others yell at him. So one time when George and the others ranchers were in town having a good town, and Lennie was all by himself in a shed, he was greeted by Curley’s wife. Curley is the boss’s son; he is very short and jealous about others. Curley’s wife wanted to be an actress, but never got the letter, so she married Curley who she even says in mean to her. She starts to talk to Lennie who refuses the conservation, eventually gives in. Curley’s wife notices the puppy that Lennie killed and supports him by telling him it is just a mutt, no big deal. She approaches him and begins to flirt with him. Lennie explains that he likes to feel nice and soft things. So she lets him feel her hair. Lennie won’t let go and messes up her hair, she starts to yell. Lennie panics, covers her mouth, and looses control. He breaks her neck and kills her. Lennie flees to the brush near the river where George told him to go if he got in any trouble. Back at the ranch, the word gets out. All the ranchers go out to find and kill Lennie, including George. George goes ahead to try and find Lennie before the ranchers do. He succeeds, but his plan soon changes. He talks to Lennie about the place they were going to have and how Lennie could tend the rabbits. He tricks Lennie to look around the river. Then, George shoots Lennie in the back of the head where Lennie won’t even feel it.

2.     When the book ended, my feelings totally changed. I used to think of the book poorly, but know I feel like the plot all tied in to the unsuspecting ending. However this made me think a lot. What George did to Lennie was just an act of love and compassion. Right then I really enjoyed the book. The plot had me at the unsuspecting death of Curley’s wife            and what could possibly happen next. But when George killed him, I just put the book down and stared at the wall for a short time. Also, the contrasting characters played a huge part in how I felt about this book. I was just fascinated about how Lennie’s mind works and how the other characters mix in with him. George is part of his family, Curley wants his size, and Candy’s dog is his equal. Candy is like George, always taking care of his dog that is like Lennie who Candy had to give up to die for his own good.

3.     The finishing act of the book led me to believe that love and compassion was the theme of the book. At the end of the book, George shoots Lennie to save him. George knew that if he didn’t shoot Lennie, the other ranchers would capture him and force a slow, painful death. I was an act of love and compassion to kill Lennie so he wouldn’t feel anything. Also, Lennie and George have a dream to own their own piece of land. But Lennie especially wants to tend the rabbits on their farm. That is his happy place and George probably wanted to take him their. Achieving the American Dream back during the Great Depression is nearly impossible. So sending Lennie to heaven was the only way to have him tend the rabbits. After all, George and Lennie always supported and loved each other as one non-traditional family.

4.     My favorite character would have to be George. In Lennie’s case, overprotection in never enough and George really tried to shield Lennie for the possible self-afflicted damage on the ranch. I feel like George is just a good person, I’m sure not that many people would stick with Lennie after knowing who he is and what he did in Weed. But George was extremely   faithful and believed that Lennie could live a happy life. However, George’s hope runs thin when he figures out that Lennie killed Curley’s wife and that nothing will ever be the same for them. He knew Lennie had no way out of this one, so he did the right thing and sent Lennie to a better place in an act of love and compassion.

5.     My least favorite character in this novel would have to be Curley. He is jealous and mean when he really doesn’t want to be. First, Curley doesn’t except himself. He thinks he is different just because he is small compared to his father. He uses anger to make up for his lack of height. This of coarse doesn’t work, it just make him be smaller and farther away from others. Also, since he is the boss’s son, he doesn’t really have a place with the other ranchers. Basically, he has no friends. However he has brought that upon himself. His wife said it herself, he is mean to even his wife.

6.     The ending being George killing Lennie threw my past prediction way off. At the beginning of the book when George was explaining to Lennie about their piece of land they were going to have, I believed George. I thought that all these books would end happily, that was until I remembered how old I was. Soon I caught notice of the way Steinbeck was using foreshadowing, especially when George told Lennie to hide in the brush if something bad happened. After that I made a new prediction that something bad was going to happen that would change the entire dream of the novel. Something bad did happen, Lennie killed Curley’s wife and Lennie did go hide in the brush. Steinbeck wouldn’t have put that in there if it wasn’t going to happen. For me, foreshadowing really gave the book away.