Revision GuideName:
Contents
Context
Plot
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Characters
George
Lennie
Candy
Curley
Curley’s Wife
Slim
Crooks
Carlson
Whit
Themes
Ranch Life
Shooting Candy’s Dog
Hands
Names and Titles
Men and Women
Lonliness
Doomed to Failure
Dreams
Why George Kills Lennie
Interpretation
Key Questions
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Characters
Themes
Context
Useful Revision Guides
Websites
Context
- Steinbeck was born in the Salinas Valley in 1902 which means that the places in the book really exist. He often worked on ranches in the school holidays and had a love of animals due to his family’s rural life.
- He was very sensitive to loneliness as he lived it. He had always wanted to be a writer but it wasn’t until 1937 when "Of Mice and Men" was published that he became a success. However he needed some privacy as the fame from the novel became too much to handle.
- It has been the 2nd most frequently banned book of the 1990s due to the language and swearing, the portrayal and racism towards Crooks and the questionable morals and violence.
- The novel is set in the 1930s, a time of great misery for many Americans. The stock market on Wall Street crashed dramatically in 1929 this led to a state of economic depression where the dollar wasn’t worth anything. Increasing mechanisation was driving manual labourers off the land which meant that migrant workers moved over America trying to find places to earn money. Drought and over farming meant that reduced the amount of fertile land needed to grow crops and official refugee camps were set up. Banks began collapsing and bankers themselves committed suicide but if you were black it was even worse due to the highly racist and segregated society in America at the time.
- Even so the population was increasing due to a fervent belief in the American Dream where any man in America could settle down in his own house with family and good job: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- Poverty and starvation meant that the rich stayed rich while the poor became poorer. There was no more claimable land for people to settle down in and striking gold just wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Wages were so low that no one could save and there was a 30% unemployment rate.
- This wasn’t limited to America only, even Europe was in a mess with a civil war in Spain and the Nazi’s gaining more and more power (World War Two wasn’t far away).
- The novel starts and ends with a scene at the pool. It starts with life and dreams and ends in death. The bits in-between all happen on the ranch which no one can call their own because it belongs to the boss, is sparse and unwelcoming. As Lennie is described as an animal it is appropriate that he dies in nature, despite one of the main messages of the novel is that having a dream goes against nature.
- Nothing goes right for George and Lennie, they switch from despair to happiness several times in the novel and when they think they are getting somewhere it ends up going badly for them. This time they hit rock bottom as Lennie dies and George has to face reality. As their story goes up and down the violence and suspense is building.
dead mousedead dogcrushed handdead girl
dead Lennie - It is written like a play with many entrances and exits. It is very visual and dramatic with just one location and plot taking place over one weekend. The descriptions at the beginning of chapters could be stage directions and reach of the characters have very visual qualities such as a bright red dress.
- The language is trying to be realistic presenting the guys in the bunk house as literate and not stupid. Crooks even reads a law book so their language doesn’t express ignorance, but they can be very harsh towards Crooks.
- There is a lot of period specific and dialect specific words included too such as “jerkline skinner” and “cat house”
Plot
Chapter 1
The book starts with the introduction of Lennie and George walking by the Salinas River. They sit and rest at the river and it is revealed that there have been some complications in their time at Weed. They are long term companions and we see that Lennie copies George’s mannerisms and that he is very mentally very childlike. They are heading to a ranch in order to work and have no money to themselves. This doesn’t stop them from dreaming though and the first mention of their plan comes when they are eating by the river. They plan to own their own property and to live off the land making their own money and living comfortably. George is very anxious in this chapter as he knows they have been on the run from Weed and he worries that this is also going to happen in the new ranch. It is hard for Lennie to fit into different places because of the time that the novel is set in and also the lack of acceptance there was for anything that was out of the ordinary. The setting helps to create a beautiful atmosphere but it is also creepy because of the animals that are around and the fact that Lennie is described to these often. Also George’s emotions are quite up and down because he flicks between shouting at Lennie and chastising him like a parent would to a child and trying to reassure him by discussing the dream with him.
Chapter 2
George and Lennie arrive late to the ranch and are introduced to the other men on the ranch. The first person they meet is Candy who is a swamper with only one hand. The bunkhouse is not a clean place and because they are late the first thing that they get to do is eat a bit of lunch. The atmosphere is tense and some of the people they meet are friendlier than others. Everyone in the bunk house as his own bed and a small cupboard where they keep a few possessions and there is a table in the middle for playing cards. The boss is angry because George and Lennie have arrived late, he can be a decent boss as he gave the boys a gallon of whisky at Christmas however he is quite aggressive towards Lennie and George particularly when George has to answer for Lennie. His son is worse though; Curley is threatened by bigger guys and acts aggressively towards Lennie from the minute they meet. He is aggressive for not good reason and we get another warning about Lennie as George tells Curley he shouldn’t mess with Lennie.
There are some ranch hands that are much friendlier. Slim, Candy and Carlson are not edgy like the boss and prove to be useful. Candy tells George all about the other people on the ranch, Slim is friendly and interested in the newcomers to the ranch and Carlson is pleasant too. Candy is definitely the friendliest of the group and is helpful. He confides in George that he wants a quiet life but is not sure how long he will be kept on because of his hand.
Curley’s wife also turns up and gets a reaction from everyone; George and Candy are jumpy because of the previous threat from a woman in Weed. She is openly flirtatious particularly towards Slim who responds less hostile to her than the other characters in the bunkhouse. This makes George restless and question whether he is in the right place. He is very distrusting and isn’t sure about Candy and responded defensively to the boss’s questioning. He doesn’t like Curley’s aggressive attitude or the way he treats his wife, but he doesn’t like her either and sees her as trouble. He thinks that Lennie will mess things up again and shouts at him for talking to the boss and physically shakes him when he says that Curley’s wife is “purty”. George makes a bargain with Lennie and agrees to get him a puppy if he will keep out of trouble.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 is a turning point in the novel and it is where things start to turn sour. Whit turns out to be a source of information and advice, George plays cards with him and explains where the best brothels are to go to on a Saturday night and bursts out when he hears there is a fight between Curley and Slim. He is shown to be a typical ranch hand. Carlson however is not so easy going. He complains a lot particularly about Candy’s dog and eventually bullies Candy into agreeing that the best thing for the dog is to be put down, so he walks it outside and shoots it in the back of the head. This is similar to the end of the novel and foreshadows what is to happen with George and Lennie. After this event there is a chance that the dream could become a reality. Candy overhears George and Lennie talking about the dream and agrees to put in his compensation money in order to help them achieve their dream, so long as he can work for them and live with them. He also agrees to write a will leaving his share to the men when he dies. This convinces George that if they work until the end of the month they should have just enough money to make the dream work. Curley accuses Slim of having an affair with his wife, and burst into the bunkhouse. Lennie has just been talking about the dream and is smiling so Curley believes he is laughing at him and begins to fight him. Lennie follows George’s instructions to the letter and only when George says that Lennie should fight back he does and crushes Curley’s hand. The men manage to blackmail Curley into saying that it was a machine accident rather than Lennie. Slim and George talk after the incident and George explains what happened to them on their travels. He explains how he was looking after Lennie because he promised his Aunt Clara he would after she died. He also explains that he has often abused his power over Lennie, asking him to jump into a lake even though he knew he couldn’t swim. He then confides in Slim what happened in Weed – Lennie liked the look of a girl’s dress and reached out to feel it because he likes soft things. She screamed but Lennie’s gut reaction is to hang on when he is scared and so the girl believed he was going to rape her and they had to escape before the lynch mob would get him. We also get a warning for the end of the novel with George explaining that Lennie is likely to kill his puppy because he doesn’t know his own strength. Overall the end of this chapter leaves a grim atmosphere.
Chapter 4
The majority of the action in this chapter happens in Crooks’ room. George has gone with the men into town and has left Lennie alone with his puppy. Lennie sees a light on in Crooks’ room and, not knowing any different, decides to walk in. Crooks’ room is his workshop as well as his home and he is kept separate from the other men because he is the only black worker on the ranch. He is rubbing liniment into his back when Lennie walks in and initially he treats him with hostility but Lennie’s innocence wins him over and he allows him to sit a while. He teases him about George not coming back but he backs down when Lennie gets angry and realises he has gone too far. He is not a malicious character he is feeling the injustices of the time. Lennie starts talking about the dream and his optimism wins Crooks’ over and he too believes that he could have a part on the dream far. Candy then comes into the room and explains how they could afford it and what they could do with their produce.
The happy and optimistic air in the room is shattered by Curley’s wife who enters from nowhere. The men are shocked and wary about her and she doesn’t like them either, she calls each of them names. She is defensive at first but then shows that she has all of the power when threatening to get Crooks strung up. When she leaves the relationships between each of the men are shattered and Crooks gives up on the dream leaving a depressing end to the chapter.
Chapter 5
Set on a peaceful Sunday afternoon the chapter starts with Lennie in the barn. He has killed his pup and is worried that he will get into trouble with George. He is glum and angry. Curley’s Wife enters and initially calms his down. She confides in him that she doesn’t like being married to Curley, she mentions how her dream was to be in the movies and she had a chance but her mother stopped her. She is lonely and talks to Lennie because she feels he is safe and too dumb to mention it to anyone else. She allows Lennie to stroke her hair because it is soft but Lennie gets carried away and when she screams he tries to stop her and accidentally breaks her neck. It means that everyone’s dreams are over, George, Candy and Lennie won’t be able to get the dream ranch as George and Lennie will have to run away again, Curley’s Wife won’t ever be able to have that chance of the pictures again.
Lennie runs to the bush where George told him to hide and then the body is discovered by Candy. He fetches George who tells him to wait a moment before raising the alarm. George knows that he has to kill Lennie before the other men do otherwise the same thing will be happening over and over again. When he does and the men arrive it is Slim not Curley who goes over to check her pulse. It is affectionate and quiet and is disrupted by Curley who wants revenge. He rallies the other guys who grab their guns and head out.
Chapter 6
The story has come a full circle and we are back to the setting in the woods. The men can be heard in the background searching for him but while he is waiting for George, Lennie hallucinates his Aunt Clara and a giant rabbit. These two figments of his imagination are personifications of his guilt and fears and tell Lennie that he is no good and show how much he has dragged George down, suggesting that the Lennie is retaining information and may not be as stupid as everyone thinks. George eventually arrives and sits behind Lennie telling him about the dream as he has done before. This calms Lennie down and gives him something pleasant to think about before George shoots him in the back of the head. George tells everyone that he took the gun off Lennie and they believe that Lennie stole it from Carlson. He is a cold man and doesn’t understand what Slim and George have got to be thoughtful about. Slim understands and knows straight away what really happened but he doesn’t say anything and comforts George instead.
Characters
George
- He has no problems when he is on his own. He is reasonably smart and can find work. He is small and quick and has strong hands. He has no family and money. He tends to be suspicious of people when he first meets them and is very defensive. He is also very pessimistic and believes the worst will happen. He regularly says that he would be better off on his own and is tempted to leave Lennie but his feelings of responsibility are greater than the temptation to leave him.
- He is trapped in his partnership with Lennie, his conscience and sense of loyalty makes him stay. He is Lennie’s minder and instructor and tells him what to do and how to behave. He is nervous that Lennie could get himself into trouble at any time and make things difficult for them both so he tries to get Lennie to stay out of trouble by staying quiet or watching out for people who may get him into trouble. He is often irritated by the responsibility of Lennie but since saving him from drowning and telling him to jump into a river he regrets his actions and wants to look out for Lennie.
- He has bad mood swings. Sometimes he can be optimistic, pessimistic, aggressive or reassuring. He is unhappy at the start because they have had to run from Weed because of Lennie’s actions but he settles down when they sleep out in the bush. However he is usually irritable with Lennie and regrets not having his own girlfriend.