Of Mice And Men: Lennie And George
...two
simple farm hands, Lennie Small, who incidentally, really isn't very small, and
his better half, George Milton, on their quest to have "a place of their own,"
with plenty of furry bunnies, of course. Sound strange? Read on to get clued
in.
The book opens along the banks of the Salinas River a few miles south of
Soledad, California. Everything is calm and beautiful, and nature is alive.
The trees are green and fresh, lizards are skittering along, rabbits sit on the
sand. There are no people in the scene. Suddenly, the calm is broken. Trouble
is in the air. Animals begin to scatter. Two men have arrived on the scene,
and the environment seems troubled by their presence. For a moment the scene
becomes "lifeless." Then in walk George and Lennie.
Lennie, a large, retarded, big man who has the mind of a little child,
and who loves to pet soft, pretty things, and George, a little man, who has
assumed the responsibility of taking care of his simpleminded friend Lennie,
are walking on their way to apply for a harvesting job on a nearby farm. The
two had been traveling together for quite some time now, which was very rare,
because most farm workers rarely have companions, but George and Lennie have
been together ever since Lennie's Aunt had passed away, and Lennie began to
follow George around everywhere.
Instead of hurrying to the farm that night, they stop by a stream to
camp in the open, and they'll arrive at work the next morning. Why? Well,
Lennie isn't very bright. George didn't want him to blow the job opportunity.
The logic between waiting until morning until going to work was, that way, all
the other farm hands would be out working, thus they'd have a better chance of
getting the job, since Lennie wouldn't have to confront to many people, which
can easily make him "confused."
During that evening, George had to take a dead mouse away from...
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