Ally Pastore
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Historical Fiction
Just Right
Just Finished

1.  I have just finished Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. It is a historical fiction book about two men, George and Lennie, who go on an adventure together, seeking money for land of their own.  In the second to last chapter, Lennie accidentally kills his boss's, son's, wife.  Nobody found out yet, though.  The last chapter starts when Lennie is waiting for George at a deep pool near the river.  When George finally appears, Lennie is thrilled.  But he confesses to George that he has done a bad thing.  When George doesn't get upset, Lennie asks him to tell him the plan that they had hoped for.  Their plan is that they will earn enough money to buy a farm of their own.  As George is telling the story, he tells Lennie to look across the river to envision the farm.  But as they are sitting there, George puts a gun to the back of Lennie's head, and pulls the trigger.

2.   If I had to rate this book, 1-10, Of Mice and Men would be an 8.  I really liked this book and I thought that Steinbeck had done a nice job with the plot and characters.  I liked how descriptive everything was. For example, the characters. The character descriptions were great and it was easy to judge them because you got to know more about them.  They were also very creative. There was a variety of different personalities through all of them.  I didn't really like how there was one chapter that described all of the characters.  It felt like the book was going to fast and was rushed.  I had to read the chapter over again because I needed to remind myself who all of the characters were.

3.  One theme that is shown throughout the book is family.  There are many examples of family shown, traditional or non-traditional.  George and Lennie are the most important and special family in my opinion.  They are a non-traditional family that shows protection, care, and love.  I love how John Steinbeck really emphisized these two characters.  George is like a father and a brother to Lennie. He is like his father because he is very supportive and protective of him.  They are also like brothers because they are always there for each other and love each other.

4.  My favorite character in Of Mice and Men is Candy.  Candy is an old man who lost his hand while working on the farm.  He is a sweet ranch worker who had a dog that he had for a very long time.  His dog was very special to him and meant a lot.  Unfortunately, he had to have his dog shot.  He was so devastated, but he knew that it was best for his dog.  His dog was very old and was struggling for survival.  Candy was nice to George and Lennie from the beginning and was a very crucial character to  the story.

5. My least favorite character is Curley.  Curley is the son of George and Lennie's boss.  He is small but very intimidating.  He has a very big temper and judges people based on the least important things.  I have never really liked him because he picks on Lennie.  I think that Curley feels threatened by Lennie because he is bigger.  Curley has never been nice to his wife, either.  He doesn't care about his wife and just uses her to brag to the other men because he is insecure about himself.

6. When George killed Lennie I was really surprised.  I did not expect that at all, but I think that it was at good thing. If Lennie had survived, he would be in pain because he killed Curley's wife.  After  Curley's wife died, everyone turned against Lennie and were going to find and kill him.  I wasn't sure how the book was going to end but I definitely did not expect Lennie's death..especially by his best friend. I think that it was thoughtful of George to do that even because he knew it was the right thing to do.