Ashley Hanlon

Ashley Hanlon
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Historical Fiction
Challenge
Just Finished

1. The end of the book first starts when George and the other men go out to play cards, but they leave Lennie at home.  Slim had recently given Lennie a puppy so Lennie goes to see it.  Lennie had again accidentally killed it, so he just sits there and strokes the dead puppy.  Lennie starts to panic a little and thinks George will be mad that he killed the puppy.  He gets really nervous that he wont be able to tend the rabbits and George wont let him feed them the alfalfa. Curley's wife passes the barn and sees Lennie sitting there with a dead puppy panicking.  So she decides to go see him.  Now its just Lennie and Curley's wife in the barn and Lennie is rambling on about the rabbits.  Curley's wife doesn't know anything about any rabbits so Lennie explains what George said about the rabbits and the alfalfa. She doesn't understand why he cares so much about rabbits and the puppy he just killed so he tells her he likes to feel soft things.  Curley's wife unknowingly allows Lennie to stroke her hair so that he'll feel better. Once she asks him to stop because he's messing up her hair, he doesn't.  She repeatedly asks Lennie to stop but he doesn't so she tries to get away by jerking her head sideways.  Lennie still doesn't let go, in fact he holds on even tighter.  Curley's wife starts to panic and scream which makes Lennie panic and tighten his grip even more.  He covers her mouth because he doesn't want anyone to hear her scream she tries to get away but Lennie is way too strong.  Lennie pulls her backwards by her hair and accidentally snaps her neck, killing her.  Lennie realizes what he has down once her body goes limp. He knows for sure that George will be mad so he goes and runs to the brush, just like George told him to do if anything bad happened. Once the rest of the men return and find Curley's wife's dead body, they know Lennie did it because he is missing. All of the men are furious, especially Curley. They all decide to go out and hunt down Lennie so that they can shoot and kill him. George knows he's hiding in the bushes by the river so he gets to Lennie before the other men do. George knows that if he doesn't kill Lennie, Curley and the others will torture and kill him very painfully to pay for the death of Curley's wife. So George does what he thinks is best. He takes the gun from Lennie and presses it to the back of Lennie's head, so that when he shoots him it will be quick and painless. George tells Lennie to close his eyes and think about the rabbits, he tells him that he isn't mad at him and that everything will be okay. George then hears Curley's voice and realizes its time to end Lennie's life. So, George pulls the trigger and the bullet goes through the back of Lennie's head, and within seconds Lennie is dead.

2. Overall I liked this book.  I think Steinbeck used foreshadowing really well. In the beginning of the book i found that it was hard to follow. Also, the book was hard to read and was definitely a challenge. I found myself having to go back and reread a lot of the book, sometimes even after that I still didn't understand what was going on. Towards the end though, it come together. But, I did get frustrated while reading this book because the characters were all so similar and the author didn't really do that great of a job describing the differences between them. The plot was fun to read about once I understood what was happening. It also got more interesting around page thirty once the book kind of picked up and stuff started happening. Like when Lennie crushes Curley's hand for example. I did enjoy the book, but it was confusing and a challenge to read, especially because I've never read anything else by John Steinbeck.

3. A theme in this book is definitely loyalty. I not only see loyalty between George and Lennie. But also between Candy and his dog, and Curley and his wife. Although George does get frustrated with Lennie sometimes, he always keeps him with him. George is very protective of Lennie and is always looking out for him. And Lennie does the same for George, they're their own family. Candy also is very devoted to his dog. Although everyone else doesn't see the beauty in the old dog,  Candy sees a lot of himself in the dog. When everyone else is complaining about the smell or how the dog is no use anymore, Candy is always the one to say how fantastic he was and how he is used to the smell and doesn't care. In the end, Candy does allow for them to kill his dog because he sees the pain the poor dog is in and doesn't want his dog to be in anymore pain. Although, it was hard for Candy to leave his dog he knows it was for the best and it had to be done. Curley's wife is always complaining about how bad of a husband Curley is, but she loves him and won't leave. Loyalty is used all throughout the book and is a very important theme used between all of the characters.

4. My favorite character is Lennie. He is such a kind person and is truly good hearted and means well. Although he has been accused of raping a girl and he did kill Curley's wife, it's because his strength is also his weakness. He's just too strong he can't help but kill her especially because Curley's wife is such a small woman. He does come off as this big scary guy who can just crush you with his bare hands but his personality is one of a little kids. He's gentle and kind and really does mean well. Every time he talks he is always apologizing or he gets really excited and asks George about the rabbits.

5. My least favorite character is definitely Curley. He thinks he is above everyone else because he's married and he's the boss's son. He attitude toward everyone is really rude and mean especially towards Lennie. Curley does't come up much in the book but on the occasion that he does he is just really mean, and for no reason. I could tell while reading this book that no one on the farm likes him and even his wife wishes she could be living in the city and have a better life. Curley also seems very insecure about himself, thats why he is so mean. For example, he automatically hates Lennie from the start because Lennie is big, strong, and muscular. So Curley is intimidated by him and his size so he feels that he has to be extra mean to Lennie.

6. The ending of the book was definitely a shocker for me. I thought when George found Lennie in the brush he was going to run off with him to another farm. Like what they did up in Weed. Or I at least thought that George would tell Lennie to run off by himself and tell him that they need to go their separate ways and live by themselves. Then George would tell Curley and the others that Lennie is no where to be found and they would go back to the farm and George would just continue working there until he had enough money to achieve the american dream. So, I was very surprised that George kills Lennie.