of men and mice


Bookreport on „Of Mice and Men“

The novel „Of Men and Mice“ was published in 1937 and is written by John Steinbeck. The first

edition of the book has 107 pages and can be devided into six different sections. The novel plays

during the Great Depression, in California. The Author himself grew up in a fertile agricultural

valley about twentey-five miles from the Pacific Coast. The maine Charachters are two migrant

workers, Lenni Small and George Milton. Two very different men, who travel from farm to farm,

trying to earn enough money to buy their own little house with some animals. In the following text

will be a short summerary of the books content and subsequetly the story and writing style of the

author will be analyzed.

The story opens with the description of a riverbed in California, a beautiful, wooded area at the

base of “golden foothill slopes.”Two men walk along the path. George, is small, wiry, and

sharp-featured, while his companion, Lennie, is large and awkward. They start having a

conversation and it becomes clear that the larger man has a mild mental disability, and that his

companion looks out for him. In the following paragraphs the reader learns about the two men's

plan to work on a ranch where they are expected to work on the next day. George, the smaller man,

decides to stay the night and light a fire. He sends Lenni into the woods to get some wood, when he

returned George noticed a dead mouse in Lennie's hand. He insists on Lenni handing it over and he

throws it away. Asked why he would carry a dead mouse around Lenni explains his sadisfaction

when patting the mouse. George starts a long speech about how much better he could get along if he

didn't have to care for Lennie. The incedent causing the two men to leave their old ranch is

mentioned. The locals assumed Lenni assaulted a girl, even though he was only obsessed with the

soft dress she was wearing and wanted to feel the material. George starts to feel sorry for losing his temper and as an apology he tells Lennie the details of their dream - that he and Lennie will raise

enough money to buy a patch of land, where they will have a small farm with a vegetable patch and

a rabbit hutch. The rabbit hutch is the only detail of the plan that Lennie consistently remembers.

George tells Lennie that, if he gets into trouble as he did in Weed, he should return to the brush near

the river and wait for George to find him.

In the next section of the book George and Lenni arrive at the ranch and meet their co workers. The

first acquaintance they make is with an old man, who shows both of them their beds, named Candy.

In the next pages the author describes George and Lenni meeting the other men working on ther

farm, the boss and the bosses son. After Candy they next meet Curley the Boss' son, a young,

pugnacious character. He is very jealous and protective of his wife and immediately develops a

dislike toward Lennie. At one point, Curley loses his temper after he sees Lennie appear to laugh at

him, and ends up with his hand horribly damaged after Lennie fights back against him. Afterwords

there are several other characters introduced. One of them, named slim, gives Lenni a puppy after

he finds out that Lennie loves petting soft things. George makes friends with the other workers and

decides to go out with them in the eavening whorehouse. Lennie who was left behind with Candy

visits Crooks, a black stable buck. Crooks is rude and contemptuous toward Lennie until he realizes

that Lennie has no bad intentions. Candy also visits the two men, for they are the only ones left at

the ranch while the others are in town. They discuss the plan for a small farm and Crooks shows

some interest in joining them. Curley's wife sees the three men and seeks their company out of

loneliness but the men reject her, scared of...