Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

• Setting in beginning:

  • deep and green
  • yellow sands
  • deer that come to drink in the dark
• Lennie:

  • huge man
  • large, pale eyes
  • walked heavily
  • the way a bear drags its paws
  • snorting into the water like a horse
  • dappled his big paws in the water
  • lumbered
  • let's have different colour rabbits
• George:

  • small and quick
  • dark of face
• George:

  • small and quick
  • dark of face
  • with restless eyes and sharp, strong features
  • (about Lennie) crazy bastard
• Relationship:

  One stayed behind the other
• • loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place
  • with us it ain't like that. We got a future
  • live off the fatta the lan'
• Cream (prosperity): So god damn thick you got to cut it with a knife
• Lennie's capacity for violence: Threatening the future cats which might dare to disturb the future rabbits
• Candy's dog: No good for anyone
• About dream, when it becomes tangible:

  • they fell into a silence
  • eyes were full of wonder
  • bemused by the beauty of the thing
• Candy (foreshadowing George shooting Lennie instead of some other guy): Shouldn't ought to have let no stranger shoot my dog
• Just before we know of Lennie and puppy:

  • lazy afternoon humming
  • afternoon sun sliced in through the cracks of the barn walls
• Lennie after killing puppy: He rocked himself back and forth in his sorrow
• Curley's wife's death:

  • his face was contorted
  • her feet battered on the hay
  • Lennie began to cry with fright
  • he shook her and her body flopped like a fish
  • Lennie had broken her neck
• After Curley's wife's death:

  • a moment settled ... remained for much more than a moment
  • movement stopped for much, much more than a moment
• When George discovers Curley's wife:

  • his face was as hard and tight as wood
• About end of dream:

  • I think I knowed from the very first
• Candy to Curley's wife: you ain't no good now, you lousy tart
• About Curley's wife: Lennie di'n't know what he was doin'
• Down by river at end, ominous image: a silent beak and head lanced down ... while its (snake) tail waved frantically
• Foreshadowing death of Lennie: brown, dry leaves (dead)
• Lennie looks for reassurance, go through usual routine: ain't you gonna give me hell ... like you always done before
• Looking down river, away from George: Lennie giggled with happiness