Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck- Plot Summary
George Milton and Lennie Small are migrant field workers in California. The former is intelligent but uneducated while the latter is bulky, and strong, but mentally disabled. The duo is in Soledad on their way to another part of California.
The two had the dream of settling down on their own peace of land one day. They are looking forward to the reality of their dreams. Lennie on his own wishes to just tend and pet rabbits on the farm as one of his hobbies is touching soft animals. Meanwhile, he always unintentionally kills them while caressing and touching them.
Lennie Small always narrates the story of their dreams often and often. The two men run away from Weed when Lennie is accused of rape after he grabs a young woman’s skirt, George then becomes his protector.
George and Lennie are hired at a farm but confronted by Curley, the son of their employer. Curley dislikes them, especially Lennie. He was once a semi-professional boxer. Their meeting with Curley’s wife poses another problem for them. Lennie is instantly attracted to the flirtatious underaged wife of Curley, this also adds to their problems.
They also meet an elderly ranch handyman with one hand named Candy and a loyal dog. Also, Slim, is an intelligent, gentle jerkline-skinner. His dog has just had a litter of puppies in which he gives a puppy to Lennie and Candy, whose loyal accomplished sheep dog was put down by fellow ranch-hand Carlson.
Candy offers to pitch in three fifty dollars with George and Lennie so that they can buy a farm by the end of the month., in return for permission to live with them. With this, their dreams are moving toward reality.
The three of them are very happy with the development, the joy is caught short when Curley attacks Lennie, who defends himself by crushing Curley’s fist while George urges him on.
in spite of the recent development, George is not disturbed, he feels more relaxed that he leaves Lennie on the ranch and goes into the town with the other ranch hands. Lennie goes into the stable and chats with a black man named Crooks.
Crooks is bitter, yet educated and isolated from the other workers as a result of his color. Candy sees them and they discuss their plans for the farm with Crooks who asks them if he can hoe a garden on the farm though doubting the possibilities.
The flirtatious Curley’s wife appears again flirting with men, including Lennie. However, her true picture comes out when she maligns them and threatens to have Crooks lynched. When they hear the ranch hand coming, she then leaves.
The following day, Lennie unintentionally kills his puppy while caressing it. Curley’s wife then enters the barn to have discussions with Lennie. She says she is lonely and talks about how her dreams of becoming a movie star are destroyed.
She has studied Lennie and understands the type of person he is. She thereby offers to let him caress her hair. She is panic and begins to scream when she feels Lennie’s strength. Lennie is frightened and he breaks her neck and runs away.
The other ranch hands later find the dead body, they come together and forms an angry mob ready to lynch Lennie. They send message to the police before they start searching for Lennie. George rushes to find Lennie when he feels that their dreams may not be realized with the development.
He hopes to find him at the riverbank where they earlier camped. It is their designated meeting place incase in trouble. George meets him there and the duo sit together and George retells the story of their dreams as he normally does.
As this goes on, they hear the lynch mob moving towards them, George chooses to shoot Lennie dead rather than dying in the hands of the mob. He believes that shooting to death is more merciful than mob action.
Some seconds after the incident, Curley, Slim and Carlson arrive. Slim realizes what happen, consoles George and leads him away, while Curley and Carlson look on as they are unable to understand the mood of the two men.