Of Mice and Men
By John Steinbeck
Novel Summary
The novel, which takes place during the Great Depression, begins beside the Salinas River near Soledad, California, where two migrant workers, Lennie Small and George Milton, are walking on their way to a nearby ranch. They have recently escaped from a farm near Weed where Lennie, a mentally deficient yet gentle man, was wrongly accused of rape when he touched a woman to feel her soft dress.
Theme Analysis
takes place in California and then people meet each other and encounter problems and have different opposite unique relationships with eachother
Lennie
arge man who is mentally delayed. Lennie has the mind of a child and acts as a one as well. His character is helpless without the help of his friend George. Lennie thinks the world of George, no matter how irritated George gets with him. Lennie also loves to pet soft things. He carries mice around in his pocket so he has something soft to pet. Lennie's love for soft things ultimately determines his fate at the end of the novel. Lennie is kind and loving. All he wants to do is to please George so he will let him tend the rabbit's when they buy their farm.
George
George is a small man with a short temper. George travels with Lennie and takes on the responsibility of caring and watching out for him. This feels like a burden on George at times, and he feels his life would be better and easier if Lennie was not with him. He dreams of having his own life, a girlfriend and the freedom from being a "babysitter." Although George feels this way, he never strays from protecting Lennie.
Candy
Candy is the old handyman at the ranch where George and Lennie find jobs. As the result of an accident on the ranch, Candy is left with only one hand. He fears that the boss of the ranch will ask him to leave soon because of his disability and inability to work the ranch with one hand. Candy meets George and Lennie and becomes a part of their dream to buy land and build a farm. Candy is important to George and Lennie because he has the money to buy the land.
quote
"I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why." (steinbeck76)
Bio of John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California, the third child of Olive Hamilton, former school teacher, and John Ernst Steinbeck, Monterey County treasurer. The Victorian house in which Steinbeck grew up still stands in Salinas today.