Of Mice And Men: Lennie And George :: essays research papers

Of Mice and Men: Lennie and George Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is the story of two simple farm hands, Lennie Small, who incidentally, really isn't very small, and his better half, George Milton, on their quest to have "a place of their own," with plenty of furry bunnies, of course. Sound strange? Read on to get clued in. The book opens along the banks of the Salinas River a few miles south of Soledad, California. Everything is calm and beautiful, and nature is alive. The trees are green and fresh, lizards are skittering along, rabbits sit on the sand. There are no people in the scene. Suddenly, the calm is broken. Trouble is in the air. Animals begin to scatter. Two men have arrived on the scene, and the environment seems troubled by their presence. For a moment the scene becomes "lifeless." Then in walk George and Lennie. Lennie, a large, retarded, big man who has the mind of a little child, and who loves to pet soft, pretty things, and George, a little man, who has assumed the responsibility of taking care of his simpleminded friend Lennie, are walking on their way to apply for a harvesting job on a nearby farm. The two had been traveling together for quite some time now, which was very rare, because most farm workers rarely have companions, but George and Lennie have been together ever since Lennie's Aunt had passed away, and Lennie began to follow George around everywhere. Instead of hurrying to the farm that night, they stop by a stream to camp in the open, and they'll arrive at work the next morning. Why? Well, Lennie isn't very bright. George didn't want him to blow the job opportunity. The logic between waiting until morning until going to work was, that way, all the other farm hands would be out working, thus they'd have a better chance of getting the job, since Lennie wouldn't have to confront to many people, which can easily make him "confused." During that evening, George had to take a dead mouse away from Lennie, who had been hoarding it because he liked to pet it. George tried to teach simpleminded Lennie that you don't pet dead things, but Lennie had a hard time remembering. George is aware that Lennie has difficulty remembering things, so he has to remind him every time that they went for a job not to say anything, and to let him do the talking. He also stresses the importance that Lennie returns to the particular place and hide in the stream or bushes if gets in any trouble,