NO@H'S BLOG

Noah Lawrence

Of Mice and Men

Historical Fiction

Holiday

Finished Book

1.       I just completed reading the book  Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.  The end of this book was very interesting. A character named Lenny who is mentally challenged killed a girl with soft hair.  Earlier in the novella, Lenny killed a mouse and a puppy by petting them too hard.  He discovered a liking for soft things.  Unfortunately, Lenny does not recognize when to stop and panics when the animals do not like this.  His strength and panic kills the mouse and the puppy. This situation escalates when Lenny begins to “pet” the girl’s soft hair.  She becomes frightened because she thinks he could possibly rape or kill her.  She began to scream which in turn upsets Lenny; he begins to shake her to quiet her but breaks her neck unintentionally.  After he realized what he had done, he runs to brush near the river.  This was where George, Lenny’s companion told him to meet in case of an emergency.  When the ranch hands discover her dead body, they form a party to hunt down Lenny knowing he committed this crime. George leads them in the opposite way to get to Lenny safely.   Once he finds Lenny, he comforts him by telling him what reassures him the most and that is how they are going to get some land.  He tells Lenny he can tend to the rabbits and that they will be a real family.  George tells Lenny this so his last moments could be happy before he shoots him in the back of the head.  He does this because Lenny would be tortured to punish him for his crime. Lenny would never understand why he was tortured, brought to jail, and taken away from George. It was something that George had to do. After this all happened George walked away with his new best friend Slim.

2.      This book makes me feel lucky. This novella describes bad times and these migrant farmers had to deal with harsh conditions. The characters in this book are so well developed most of them have a background story. The reader can understand each character easily because of the great details the author uses to describe the characters. This book has many special qualities one of them is the old fashioned southern dialogue. It may be hard to understand at some points but it really helps the reader picture the story. Another great quality is way the author presents ideas. It seems that the author uses a lot of detail but in reality he is straight to the point and the words he uses are perfect. The plot is fantastic because it is not boring at any part of the novella. There is a long rising action but it is interesting. In this book the climax is at the end and there is no falling action. I like that about this book because the falling action is my least favorite part of a book. The ending is good because Steinbeck leaves you with many things to think about. When I am left with that kind of ending I like to make up what happens next in my brain. I love how the author doesn’t name Curley’s wife. He lets you envision her yourself. If she was given a name I would think differently about her and she wouldn’t be as meaningful. The author really amazes me the way he puts things in this novella better than most authors would. The connections I made were book to self and book to world. He put the idea of non traditional family the reader’s thoughts. Some of the non traditional families in the book are Candy and his dog, Lenny and George, and all the guys in the bunk house. My friends and I are a nontraditional family. We help each other and go places together like a real family would. Like the bunk house the Patriots are a nontraditional family they both help each other and converse like a family would. Steinbeck also gives the reader the idea of The American Dream. The American dream is having land/house, money (just enough to live off of). This is shown in many ways when they go to town and spend money, when George takes care of Lenny, and when George, Lenny, and Candy decide to get a house together. Overall I rate this book a ten out of ten because John Steinbeck is such an amazing writer.

3.      The theme of this novella is Brotherhood. This is shown in many ways. An example of this is the relationship of the migrant farmers in the bunkhouse. They watch out for each other and care for each other. Another example is George and Lenny’s relationship. They care for each other. George takes care of him by supporting him mentally and physically. He does this by giving him food and reminders. Also he comforts him by telling Lenny stories.  Something else that represents brotherhood in this story is Candy and his dog. They have been together for a long time and they comfort each other. At the end of this book Slim and George walk off down the highway after Lenny dies. It seems as if Slim and George became friends. That could also represent brotherhood.

4.      My favorite character is Lenny. He resembles a big baby. He acts like a baby but is a grown man. An example of this is the weed accident. He sees a girl who is wearing a soft red dress. Lenny wanted to feel it. He grabbed it and the women started screaming. She thought he was going to rape her but that was not his intention. Another example was when he had the dead mouse. Lenny liked to pet it. Also Lenny would always ask about the rabbits like a little kid would. He would say tell me bout’ them rabbits, George. Lenny is my favorite character is because he reminds me of my little brother. My brother forgets things easily like Lenny and he likes soft things. I can relate to George through being in a similar situation.  Except Lenny provides protection for George and my brother doesn’t protect me I protect him.

5.      My least favorite character is Curely because he is mean and nosey. He is also unfair towards his wife by making mean rules that she has to follow.  Curely also picked a fight with Lenny. Of course Lenny won because he is much bigger than Curely. This means Curely thinks that he is the best at everything because Lenny has an unfair size advantage. Curely is full of himself and he is cruel. An example of this is after Lenny kills Curely’s wife by accident, Curely is determined to kill him. Lenny didn’t know he was going to kill her by merely trying to make her quiet. Curely wouldn’t have been satisfied if Lenny was just put in jail. Curely didn’t even ask for anyone else’s input on the topic and certainly wouldn’t have had a fair trial for Lenny.

  

6.      I was really surprised by the ending. I thought that Lenny would run away with George and they would have bought a house. I knew that George would separate himself from the group to go find Lenny but I didn’t know that George was going to shoot Lenny. Another thing I did not expect was George and Slim walking off after Lenny’s death. I anticipated that Lenny was going to hurt/kill Curely’s wife because of his history with soft things. It all started when he touched the dress and the mouse because they were soft. Then George told Lenny to stay away from her because he knew what might happen. Lenny wanted to feel her hair and it was destined.