Mike Jeffries

Mike Jeffries
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Historical Fiction
Holiday
Just Finished (pg. 107)


1. The book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a very unique book that teaches many lessons about love, family, friendship, and life itself. The story takes place in the south around the early 1900s. The book is about two laborers named George and Lennie. Lennie is a very big and strong man, but extremely dumb. He doesn't understand anything the way normal people do. George is a small regular man that looks out for Lennie. In the book, they work on a ranch so they can earn enough money to live out the american dream. Which is to own land and a nice house, and to have freedom that no one can take away from you. In the end, they run into a little trouble. Lennie ends up accidentaly killing the the ranch owners son's wife. Lennie runs away and George and the rest of the workers try to find him. While they are looking for him, all of the workers except George talk about what will happen to Lennie for commiting murder. Some of the workers want to kill him, while others think he should spend the rest of his life in jail. George splits off from the group and finds Lennie in the brush by the river, where they spent the night before going to the ranch the next day. George knew that he would find Lennie here because in the beginning of the book when they were lying here in the brush, George told Lennie to come back here if anything goes wrong. George walks over to Lennie and sits down next to him. he starts telling Lennie that it wasn't Lennies fault. George hears the rest of the workers coming so he tells Lennnie to look out into the river. He tells him that he can see the house that they want to live in, and the land that they will own. George tells Lennie to look at it, and take it in. While Lennie is doing so, out of love, George shoots Lennie in the back of the head, because it is better than anything the workers would have done to Lennie.

2. To me, this is probably one of the only books that I have truely enjoyed reading and is one of the only books that has taught me important lessons about life, and how I am so lucky to have people around me that care for me, and put a roof over my head. This book really made me thankful for what I have. The authors style of writing is very interseting, espiecially the dialogue that he chose to use in this book. When the characters speak, it can be confusing at first because of the southern accent that the charcters have. Even though it was a little confusing, I really enjoyed it because it made me feel like the book was real and that I was right their with the characters. One of my favorite things about this book is that it keeps a very steady tempo, parts aren't too slow or too fast, and that aspect really made the book fun and easy to read, and is one of the biggest reasons of why I enjoyed his writing.

3. In my opinion, the theme that best soots this story is love. Why'll reading this story I never really thought that George loved Lennie, or that Lennie loved George, but after thinking about it when the book was finished, they both loved each other. All Lennie did was get George and himself in trouble, but George stock with Lennie until the end. In the end, George killed Lennie out of love. He thought that Lennie should die happy, and with his best friend, instead of dying old and alone in a jail sell, or being tortured by the other ranch workers that wanted him dead. That is why I think the theme of this book should be love.

4. My favorite character in this story would have to be George. George looks out for Lennie and in a way, is Lennie's "parent." He does to Lennie, what a parent would do to their child, which would be to look out for them, take care of them, be there for them, and most importantly, love them. George is my favorite character because he is the bravest character in the story. The bravery and courage that he shows when he kills Lennie is unbelievable. I don't think I would be able to kill my best friend, even if it was the right thing to do. George is my favorite character because he has inspired me to be more brave and show more courage in times that I should.

5. My least favorite character in the book is a man named Curley. Curley is the son of the owner of the ranch, or "the boss." Curley is an arrogant, small, little man. Who is very jealous of Lennie, and is very mean to him. He doesn't treat anybody with respect, not even his wife. When ever I was reading the book, and he came into the scene, I knew that he was either going to cause trouble, or bring a negative tone to the scene. There are characters like that in every book, and I like it when authors do that because it makes you feel many different emotions when you read the book. This was one of the first books that I really felt more than a few different emotions, and it is a big reason of why I really like the book.

6. I knew that the book was going to end with George and Lennie by the brush down by the river because there is a big piece of foreshadowing in the beginning of the book that tells you that they will come back to the brush. I did not think that George was going to kill Lennie until George hears the other workers talking about what will happen to Lennie when they find him. I am really happy with the way the book ended, even though it was very sad. It took a lot of people by surprise, and is the most important reason of why Of Mice and Men, is the classic story it is.