Of Mice and Men Notes

2012-06-18T05:37:00.004-07:00

The novel, Of Mice and Men is written by a clever, exciting author, John Steinbeck.
Two migrant workers, George and Lennie, have been let off a bus miles away from the California farm where they are due to start work. George is a small, dark man with “sharp, strong features.” Lennie, his companion, is his opposite, a giant of a man with a “shapeless” face. Overcome with thirst, the two stop in a clearing by a pool and decide to camp for the night. As the two converse, it becomes clear that Lennie has a mild mental disability, and is deeply devoted to George and dependent upon him for protection and guidance.

Of Mice and Men explores a range of different themes:

Loneliness and Isolation

Prejudice and Discrimination

The Impossibility of the American Dream

Friendships

Loneliness and Isolation Explanation and Quotes
Virtually everyone on the ranch, at some point, suffers from loneliness. The main characters that suffer from loneliness are Candy, Curley's wife and Crooks.
Curley's wife desperately strives for someone to talk to. She doesn't communicate to her husband at all. This is because she was forced to marry Curley.

Curley's wife is a extremly lovely but isolated woman. Curley's wife is really unhappy. She has nobody she can talk to except Curely, her jealous husband, whom she married after she did not get a letter of a talent scout who told her that she has the talent for a moviestar. Curley's wife is really unhappy with her husband, because Curley isolates her, so she can not talk to anybody. She is a dangerous woman for the people on the farm.

She often trys to seduce some migrant workers on the farm. Always when she comes in a room her first question is: "Is Curley here"." But everybody on the farm knows that she is not looking for Cuerly when she asks that. One time Curley caught a man with his wife in the barn, doing their "own buisness." Because Curley's wife is so atractive and Curley is so jealous, he Curley trys to isolate her. After she got killed by Lennie, John Steinberg makes the reader feel sad about what happend to her. She just wanted to break through her isolation and live a normal life.

Loneliness has made Crook's a very bitter and isolated individual. He is truly not able to leave this situation because of his race. The other men at the ranch do not relate with Crooks unless he is working because he is black. Other than when they are working, the other men shut Crooks out off all of their activities except horseshoes. Crooks are very isolated and not welcome in leisure activities. He has become bitter and known to lash out at people because of the loneliness that he has. Crooks's emotions are displayed to the reader when he talks to Lennie in his room about having no one to relate to and communicate with. He states: "Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he's goin' to come back. S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy `cuase you was black...A guy needs somebody--to be near him" (Steinbeck 72). In a way, everyone needs someone to talk to, whether it is a friend, family member, or even a pet. This is a source of comfort and wealth for the person. Crooks does not have any of these sources. Crooks has never been treated well by any of his co-workers because he is black. This has affected Crooks greatly. He has become bitter and has obtained a passionate animosity toward everyone. He has a certain demeanor toward everyone due to the way he is treated because of his race. In addition, Crooks also does not know how to relate and function normally anymore because of how his loneliness has effected him. Crooks's animosity was exemplified when Lennie comes into his room unannounced. He greets Lennie with: "Come on in and set a while...'Long as you won't get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down." Crooks has been lonely for so long that he expects people not to talk to him. When Lennie comes in and does not have any intention of hurting him, he realizes it and he let's his guard down. It may seem that he doesn't desire friendships or affection, but he no longer knows how to deal with his loneliness. It has made him into another person, one that obtains a relentless hostility toward anyone and everyone that gets close to him.

Candy, once an old ranch worker, is now confined to the mundane job of cleaning. He lost his hand at some point and has only a stump to show, which may have hindered his career as a ranch worker- we do not know Candy's background and how long he was like that for. However, it is apparent that he is isolated by his disability, just as Lennie is isolated by his mental retardation. He has only a dog for a companion, a mongrel he has had since it was a pup. The dog used to be a fine sheepdog, but not unlike Candy, it is now viewed as being no longer of any use or purpose. Carlson insists that the dog be shot- after much convincing he takes the dog outside and kills it. This is devastating for Candy- not only was the creature his main friend and ally in a way, but he had allowed another man to kill it. If it was to be killed, he insists later, he should have done it himself. He has no relatives, and once his dog is killed is totally alone.

He eagerly clutches at the idea of buying a farm with George and Lennie, but of course this all comes to nothing. After this incident Candy seeks solace in George and Lennie's dream- he hangs onto the notion that one day these men will take him with them to their own little Utopia- their own place, with chickens and pigs and alfalfa... and, of course, rabbits for Lennie. He is a prime example of the loneliness ranchmen suffered from- in his earlier days, with his ambling lifestyle, bearing in mind the difficulties of living in such a time, he finds it nearly impossible to make a friend, because he was always moving on and on, in search of better work and more money.

Now he has finally put his roots down (in admittedly weak soil) and is still finding the inability to make good friends and keep them: because, this time, it is they who are moving away from him. The itinerant workers are caught in a trap of loneliness - they never stay in one place long enough to form permanent relationships. Even if such relationships existed, they would probably be destroyed by the demands of the nomadic life. This makes him bitter, yet he remains hopeful- that is, until he arrives on the scene where only minutes earlier the boss's son's wife and Lennie had talked. Her dead body lies alone, loosely covered in hay. After this his optimism is dashed- Candy's disappointment is expressed in the bitter words he utters to the body of Curley's wife, whom he blames for spoiling his dream. As he says at this point in the novel: "You done it, di'n't you? I s'pose your glad. Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good. You ain't no good now, you lousy tart".His last attempt at freedom and independence has just slipped through his fingers.
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Key Quotes in Of Mice and Men:

Section 1

1. "On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones." pg. 4

2. "he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws."pg. 4

3. "You'd drink out of a gutter if you was thirsty."pg. 5

4. "Slowly, like a terrier who doesn't want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again." pg. 10

5. “if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble....An' whatta I got.” pg. 12

6. “You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.'" pg. 12

7. "Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place....” pg. 15

8. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us." pg. 15

9. " I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why." pg. 15-16

10. "'we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof...'" pp. 16

Section 2

11. "At about ten o'clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows, and in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars." pp. 19

12. "Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with big guys." pg. 28

13. “ a gravity in his manner… all talk stopped when he spoke…his authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject… Slim the jerkline skinner” pg.35

14. "'Ain't many guys travel around together,' he mused. 'I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.'" pg. 36

Section 3

15. "Although there was evening brightness showing through the windows of the bunk house, inside it was dusk." pg. 39

16. "Well, you ain't bein' kind to him keepin' him alive." pg. 46

17. “That dog ain't no good to himself. I wisht somebody'd shoot me if I got old an' a cripple." pg. 46

18. "We could live offa the fatta the lan'." pg. 56

19. " When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me… I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs." pg. 60

20. "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. pg. 61

21. "Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror." pg. 63

Section 4

22. "I seen it over an' over-a guy talkin' to another guy and it don't make no difference if he don't hear or understand. The thing is, they're talkin', or they're settin' still not talkin'. It don't make no difference, no difference....It's just the talking." pg. 70

23. “They'll take ya to the booby hatch. They'll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog." pg. 71

24. "'A guy needs somebody-to be near him.' He whined, 'A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.'" pg. 72

25. "Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land." pg. 73

Section 5

26. "Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." pg. 85

27. "He pawed up the hay until it partly covered her." pg. 90

28. "As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment." pg. 91

29. "I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He musta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would." pg. 93

Section 6

30. "Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan mountains, and the hilltops were rosy in the sun." pg. 98

31. "No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know." pg. 108

32. "The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again." Chapter 6, pg. 105

33. "'Never you mind,' said Slim. 'A guy got to sometimes.” pg. 105

Of Mice and Men Study Guide, Notes and Quotes

Of Mice and Men Notes

Key Quotes in Of Mice and Men: