Mice And Men Chapter One

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Course Hero'south video report guide provides in-depth summary and analysis of Chapter 1 of John Steinbeck'southward novel Of Mice and Men.

Of Mice and Men | Chapter ane | Summary

Summary

Of Mice and Men is told from a third-person, objective bespeak of view. Information technology takes place near Soledad, California, and begins at a spot where the Salinas River forms a tranquil pool. Abundant willows line the river, and wildlife, including rabbits and lizards, live hither. A beaten path, an ash pile, and a sycamore limb, "worn shine past men who have sat on it," bear witness that people oft visit this puddle. Ii men walk downwardly the path to the pool. One of the men is pocket-sized, with "restless optics, and sharp, strong features." The other man is huge and "shapeless of face up." The larger man has sloping shoulders, drags his feet slightly, and lets his arms hang loosely past his sides.

The huge human being, Lennie, gulps downward water from the pool like a thirsty equus caballus. The small man, George, drinks water from his cupped hand. He sits by the pool, embracing his drawn-upward knees. Lennie imitates him exactly. Lennie has forgotten where they are going, and George, frustrated by his companion'southward poor memory, reminds him they are going to a ranch to get work. George then accuses Lennie of hiding something in his hand, an accusation that Lennie at showtime denies. Lennie and so contritely admits his underground, opening his mitt to reveal a dead mouse, which he has been keeping in his pocket and petting. When George orders him to give it up, Lennie easily it to George, who throws information technology abroad. George tells Lennie non to say anything when they talk to the boss at the ranch and to let him do the talking. Lennie tries to remember, repeating, "I ain't gonna say nothin'." George besides tells Lennie that at their new task, Lennie must avert any behavior of the sort he exhibited at their previous job, which was virtually the town of Weed.

George decides they are going to army camp by the pool and head to the ranch in the morning, and he sends Lennie off to gather wood for a campfire. When Lennie returns, George knows that he has retrieved the dead mouse. He demands that Lennie hand it over again, and George then throws the mouse as far every bit he can into the brush. George explains that he doesn't desire Lennie to pet the dead mouse, because it isn't fresh. George reminds Lennie how Lennie's Aunt Clara used to give him alive mice to pet and how she stopped because Lennie e'er accidentally killed them. They get a campfire burning and warm up cans of beans. George complains near all the things he could practice if he wasn't tied downward taking care of Lennie. "I could swallow whatsoever place I desire, hotel or whatsoever place," he says. Lennie feels guilty and offers to go off into the hills and live in a cave. George feels bad near his complaints and tells Lennie he doesn't desire him to leave.

Lennie and then asks George to tell about the rabbits, and even though George has told this story many times earlier, he talks again well-nigh the subcontract he and Lennie dream of having. Lennie listens intently. George says they have a futurity because they have each other. Eventually they are going to get a place of their own, with a garden and rabbits in cages. They showtime to eat their beans. George tells Lennie that if he gets into problem at the ranch, to come to this puddle and hide. Lennie says he'll remember.

Analysis

In Chapter 1, Steinbeck introduces the two chief characters, George and Lennie, who are bindlestiffs—migrant workers who move from ranch to ranch harvesting crops. They make an odd couple just are close friends.

The chapter likewise introduces i of the main themes of the volume, that of loneliness and friendship. From the beginning of the chapter, George and Lennie obviously take a strong bail. George is concerned most Lennie and oft acts like a frustrated parent education and sometimes scolding a kid. He tells Lennie non to drink water that isn't moving and not to hold a dead mouse. Sometimes the frustration boils over, as when Lennie says he wants to keep the dead mouse and George responds, "You gonna give me that mouse or do I accept to sock you?" George as well complains at length about how Lennie is tying him down. This contentious relationship makes the reader wonder why George puts upwardly with Lennie at all. Steinbeck shortly provides the answer. George explains to Lennie that near migrant workers don't have anybody else. "Guys like the states, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world," he says. Only George and Lennie are different because they have each other: "We got a future. We got somebody ... that gives a damn almost us." So the friendship forged betwixt George and Lennie provides them with hope that they can attain their dream of a amend life.

A second theme introduced is that of the dream. George and Lennie's dream is to get a small subcontract with a house, a garden, and rabbits and chickens. George has recited his clarification of their dream to Lennie again and again, using almost identical wording. In fact, Lennie knows what George is going to say nigh their imagined home before he says it. This dream therefore has get a type of prayer George recites to provide them with hope and religion in their future. The dream as well resembles the goals a immature family might talk about. In this manner, George and Lennie's dream reflects the close bond betwixt them.

Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to convey a sense that something ominous is going to happen. The first hint is when George relates how Lennie often accidentally kills the mice he pets. Even though he is a gentle soul, Lennie tin inadvertently do harm considering he doesn't know his own strength. George then mentions the trouble he and Lennie got into at their last task, hinting that Lennie did something bad. George is evidently concerned that Lennie might have trouble at the ranch. He tells his friend to recollect the pond and to come up back to it and hibernate if he gets in problem. George strongly foreshadows that something bad is going to happen to him and his companion.

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