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In the town Weed, Lennie grabs onto a girl's dress and won't let go. She gets scared and accuses him of raping her. A group of men gather to lynch Lennie for the accusations. George and Lennie have to hide in an irrigation ditch while the men search for t
A group of men gather to lynch Lennie for the accusations. George and Lennie have to hide in an irrigation ditch while the men search for them. Then they run out of town as soon as they can. -
Period: to
Of Mice and Men
The events in the book "Of Mice and Men". -
George and Lennie camp by a river before going to the ranch. While there, Lennie hides a dead mouse from George that he killed from petting too hard. George forces him to hand the dead mouse over.
This was the first time we heard about Lennie accidentally killing someone. The fact that he liked petting the mouse, but accidentally killed it while doing so, showed that he's just a big softy who doesn't know his own strength. It serves as foreshadowing for what happens later with Curley's wife. This scene also is when George talks about how lonely he is. Loneliness seems to be a recurring theme throughout this book. -
George and Lennie are hired on the ranch.
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Lennie finds out about Slim's puppies and takes one.
I think the reader is set up to be nervous about this because of how Lennie accidentally killed a lot of mice from petting them too hard. -
Carlson shoots Candy's old dog.
I think Carlson shooting Candy's dog showed how cruel the people there were. I also think Candy regretting that he didn't kill the dog himself foreshadows the death of Lennie. George later realizes he has to kill Lennie himself before the others on the farm do. -
Lennie and George start planning to buy a farm and live off the land. Candy overhears them and gets in on the deal.
George seemed to be idealizing his life with Lennie here. Maybe he thought that as long as they have their own place, they won't have to deal with constantly being nomads because of Lennie's behavior. It's an unrealistic dream of an easy lifestyle, ultimately. -
Lennie gets into a fight with Curley and breaks his hand.
I think this is another instance of Lennie not knowing his own strength. He only wanted Curley to stop and ended up mangling his hand. -
Lennie accidentally kills one of the puppies in the barn because of his strength and clumsiness.
More foreshadowing for what happens with Curley's wife. -
Curley's wife comes into the barn where Lennie is with the dead dog. She tells him about how she could have been an actress but ended up marrying Curley instead.
I became uneasy right as she came in the barn. I think the foreshadowing with the girl's dress, the mouse, and the puppy set up the reader to be nervous during this scene. -
Lennie tells Curley's wife about how he likes petting soft things. She tells him that her hair is soft and lets him pet it. He won't let go of her head when she tells him to and after a struggle, ends up breaking her neck.
The climax of the story. The tragic death of Curley's wife was foreshadowed by Lennie's prior actions (grabbing the girl in Weed's dress, killing the mice, and killing the puppy). Maybe using a picture of soft hair for this event is a bit morbid. I don't know... -
Everyone on the farm easily figures out that Lennie killed Curley's wife and goes out to look for him.
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Lennie realizes he did a bad thing again and leaves to hide in the brush like George told him to if he does a bad thing again. While hiding, he hallucinates his Aunt Clara and a giant rabbit scolding him in his own voice.
I think the hallucinations Lennie had once he was hiding in the brush; of his Aunt Clara scolding him in his voice, and then a rabbit scolding him, also in his voice, showed that he truly knew what he did was wrong. -
George shoots Lennie in the back of the head because he can no longer deal with the problems he keeps causing.
Horribly tragic ending. To me, this seemed like the loss of hopes and dreams. Lennie and George were planning to buy their own farm and "live off the land". That idealized picture of their lives never came to be. I think the situation with Candy's dog also led George to realize that he can't let the others kill Lennie and must do it himself.
