Essay/Term paper: 'of mice and men'

Essay, term paper, research paper:  John Steinbeck's The Pearl

OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck first takes place a few miles south of
Soledad. There were two men by the names of George and Lennie who became life
long partners. George thought Lennie needed support because Lennie was mentally
retarded. Later, George and Lennie moved to a ranch nearby Soledad.
George and Lennie got into trouble a few miles south of Soledad in a town
called Weed. The men were hiding out along a river called Salinas, across from the
Gabililan mountains. Trouble occurred in Weed when Lennie grabbed a hold of a
ladies dress, because he was curious about the texture of the fabric. The woman
took it the wrong way and became upset and frightened. Curdling screams caused
some men to come rushing to the aid of the woman.
Lennie then became frightened and ran away. George was such a supportive
and understanding friend that he ran away with him. Running together, the two
frightened men hid out in the Salinas River waiting for dusk to come. When dusk
arrived, the two men gathered wood and built a fire. Luckily, George had three
cans of pork and beans with him in his backpack. They stayed there until morning
to start walking again.
George told Lennie that he heard of a ranch that was four miles ahead of
them and they could get a job there. George told Lennie that if he would get into
trouble at the ranch, that he should come back and hide in the bush. Sunrise had
came and the two men began their walk to the ranch. When George and Lennie
arrived, they saw a huge long rectangular building where the bunks were inside, the
walls were white and the floor was wood. The old swamper showed Lennie and
George to their assigned bunks.
While George and Lennie were getting settled in, a stocky man stood in the
doorway. He had on blue jeans, a flannel shirt, a vest, a coat, boots and spurs.
George and Lennie quickly knew that the man in the doorway was their boss. With
a deep voice, the boss asked, "You got your workslips?" George quickly reached in
his pocket and pulled out their slips and handed them to the boss. The boss then told
them to go out after dinner and help out with the team by picking up barley at the
threshing machine.
After the boss left, the old swamper came in with his broom in his hand, and
was followed by an old sheep dog with blind eyes and struggling just to get to the
other side of the room. Suddenly, a young man with dark curly hair came into the
room wearing high heeled boots and spurs on them. It was the boss"s son, named
Curley. After Curley left, a girl with large lips, beautiful sparkling eyes, and red
fingernails appeared in the doorway. She said, "I"m looking for Curley", but, all
the guys just stood there and admired her except George. He turned his head and
said, "He was in here a minute ago, but he went."
Slim and Carlson began to talk, and Carlson asked Slim if his female dog had
her pups. Carlson thought that Slim could give up one of his pups so he could give a
pup to Candy the old Swamper and get rid of Candy"s dog. The poor dog smelled,
could barely see, and had trouble walking without pain. Later that night, when
Candy was lying in bed, Carlson asked, "Do you want me to put the old devil out of
his misery right now, Candy?" Making excuses Candy said, "You ain"t got no gun."
Then Calrlson told Candy that he does have a Luger. Candy sure didn"t know what
to think or what to say, so he gently said, "Oh, maybe tomorrow." As the night went
on, Candy finally told Carlson to take the puppy.
Curley came flinging open the door as he walked inside. The boys knew there
was going to be trouble. Lennie began laughing at something Candy said to Curley.
Curley then got angry and raged at Lennie for laughing and told him to get up and
fight like a man. Lennie wouldn"t hurt a fly on purpose. So he just stood up
and stared at him. Curley was a small statured man, but he went ahead and took a
swing at Lennie and broke his nose. While all of this was taking place, George was
yelling, "Get him Lennie! Get him!" So Lennie took it upon himself to do what was
right and when Curley took the second swing, Lennie grabbed his hand and then
Curley hit the ground, whining like a baby. The other men immediately took Curley
to the hospital because his hand was crushed.
George promised Lennie that he would get him a pup when they got to the
ranch. Slim gave Lennie one of his and was so excited that he finally got to have a
pup of his own. Every night Lennie would go out and lay by his little pup and stroke
him. Slim told Lennie that if he wasn"t careful, he would kill the little puppy
because he was handling him too much. It happened!...Lennie was playing with his
little pup and the puppy began knawing on his hand so Lennie hit him. Lennie didn"t
intentionally try to hit him hard , but he did, resulting in his pups death. The pup
was kept in the barn where Lennie tried to bury it in the straw. Without Linnie
knowing, before him stood Curly"s wife watching him, but not knowing what he was
doing. Lennie knew he was not supposed to talk to here because George didn"t want
any trouble between Lennie and Curley. She quietly sat down beside him and
started talking to him. He told her how and why the pup died. She gently soothed
him by telling him the pup was only a mutt and it wasn"t anything to worry about.
Lennie then started to talk about how a nice lady gave him a piece of velvet to
touch and feel, but he lost it. Curley"s wife told Lennie he could touch her hair. She
told him the reason why her hair was so soft was because she brushed it so much.
Lennie then gently put his hand on her head to touch her hair. he began to stroke it.
He liked her hair so much that he stroked it harder and harder, until she yelled for
him to stop. She flung her head to the side and he still kept touching her hair. She
screamed out with fear until Lennie put his hand over her mouth and nose. "Please
don"t do that!", Lennie begged. She flopped and turned like a fish when he shook
her. There was no movement coming from her. Lennie softly removed his hand and
told her he didn"t want to hurt her, but if she yelled George would be mad. After
she was quiet, Lennie picked up her arm and let it drop. He knew he had done
something very bad.
Lennie quickly covered up what he could of her body with hay. He heard
people outside of the barn playing games, so he crept around the other side of the
manger and disappeared silently. looking for Lennie, Candy called out, "Lennie, Oh
Lennie". Candy turned around and saw Curly"s dead wife. Candy ran to George
and told him about her. George knew deep down in his heart that Lennie killed her.
George knew what he had to do. Dandy and George went and told the guys the
horrible news. Curley immediately said, "I"ll kill the big guy myself." Carlson ran
to get his Luger, but to find out it was already gone. Suspiciously, Curley accused
Lennie of taking it for protection. George knew where he disappeared. George
silently left the group of mean and went to where Lennie was hiding. he saw Linnie
sitting beside the Salinas river where George told him to be if he got into any
trouble. George went down and sat down beside Linnie and told him that they will
get a home in the country, and they would get to tend the rabbits, chickens, and do
chores together. Lennie was so excited to hear that George would still let him tend
to the rabbits.
In a distance George heard the screaming and yelling of the pack of men.
Closer and closer the screams grew. George became tense as the men came closer.
George was the one who took the luger. He pulled it out of his coat and held it
behind him back. George shivered and looked at the gun as he brought it from
around his back and raised it up to Lennie"s head. Voices became louder, footsteps
groe closer, George knew what he had to do. Sadly, George pulled the trigger on
someone he cared for very deeply. He backed away as the men approached.
Carlson asked how he killed him and George responded he that Lennie had his gun,
that he had tried to take it away from Lennie, and the gun went off and shot him.
The irony of this story happens when George unexpectedly took Carlson"s
gun. Not only taking his gun, George shot Lennie. you would not think that a friend
would kill another friend. Possible, George was only helping Lennie out. Therefore,
the most ironic situation was when he killed his own best friend.
The theme of this book is, if a friend is true then one will stick by each other
through good times and bad times. George was a true friend. he displayed his
friendship by risking his own life to help when Lennie was in trouble. Also, George
let Lennie know that he was never man at him though all that took place that day.
The only reason why George shot Lennie himself was because he wanted to make the
punishment less severe than it would have been if the men found Lennie first.
My evaluation of this book is that I thought it had a nice theme. I believe the
book could of been better if it did not use so much profanity. The overall book was
above average. I would recommend this to junior high school students as a group
reading project, and the principal authorizes it.











John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, Monterey County,
California. He was an American author, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize for
Literature. Steinbeck"s best known fiction tells about the struggles of poor people.
His most famous novel, The Grapes of Wrath (1939) won the 1940 Pulitzer prize.
The novel tells the story of the Joads, a poor Oklahoma farming family, who
migrated to California in search of better life during the Great Depression in the
1930"s. Steinbeck adequately demonstrated how the struggles of a family reflected
the hardship of the entire nation. Through the labor the organizer, Jim Casy, taught
the Joads that the poor must work together in order to survive.
Steinbeck set much of his fiction in and around his birthplace of Salinas,
California. His first novel, Cup of Gold (1929), is based on the life of Sir Henry
Morgan, a famous English pirate of the 1600"s. Steinbeck"s next work, The
Pastures of Heaven (1932), is a collection of stories about people in a farm
community near Salinas. In this work, Steinbeck focused on the struggles between
human beings and nature. Of Mice and Men (1937) is a short novel that Steinbeck
made into a popular play in 1937. It is a tragic story about a physically powerful
man, but mentally retarded farm worker and his best friend and protector.
I found this information in The World Book Encyclopedia So-Sz.












OF MICE AND MEN
By: John Steinbeck


Dec. 4, 1996