What is of mice and men about

Carlson, before leading the dog outside, promises to do the job painlessly. Slim goes to the barn to do some work, and Curley, who is maniacally searching for his wife, heads to the barn to accost Slim. The three make a pact to let no one else know of their plan.

Slim returns to the bunkhouse, berating Curley for his suspicions. Curley, searching for an easy target for his anger, finds Lennie and picks a fight with him.

Slim warns Curley that if he tries to get George and Lennie fired, he will be the laughingstock of the farm. The next night, most of the men go to the local brothel. Lennie is left with Crooks, the lonely, black stable-hand, and Candy.

This thought amuses her. The next day, Lennie accidentally kills his puppy in the barn. She admits that life with Curley is a disappointment, and wishes that she had followed her dream of becoming a movie star.

Lennie tells her that he loves petting soft things, and she offers to let him feel her hair. When he grabs too tightly, she cries out. Of Mice and Men Full text. The Characters. The Setting. LitCharts: of Mice and Men. The following night all of the workers leave for a brothel they call "old Susy's" Lennie is left behind so that they can avoid trouble while they are out. During their absence, Lennie again visits his puppy, which is housed in the barn occupied by Crooks, the crippled African-American stable hand who has worked on the ranch for years.

At first, feeling as though his territory is being invaded, Crooks is upset by Lennie's presence and uses the opportunity to torment Lennie by asking: "[…]jus' s'pose [George] don't come back.

What'll you do then? Lennie is immensely upset by this suggestion, even going so far as to stand menacingly over Crooks. Sensing his danger, Crooks calms Lennie down and tries to explain his intense loneliness: "Maybe you can see now. You got George.

You know he is goin' to come back. S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? Lennie does not understand the significance of Crooks' comments and instead assures himself that George will come back. Lennie then goes on to reveal his and George's plan to live together on their own small homestead. For a short span of time, Crooks imagines that he too might join Lennie, George, and Candy on their piece of land and escape his life of inequality on the ranch.

But his new dream is quickly shattered after an altercation with Curley's wife, who degrades him for both his disability and his race.

Crooks realizes that he could never live with Lennie, George, and Candy and have the kind of life he desires. He resigns himself to a lonely life with little hope for human kindness or understanding. The next afternoon, Lennie sits by himself in the barn while the rest of the men are outside playing horseshoes. Next to him lays his puppy, now dead from Lennie's overly forceful grip. Distressed because he fears George will no longer allow him to tend their rabbits, Lennie chastises himself and tries to decide what he should do about the puppy when Curley's wife enters the barn.

She sits down and begins talking to Lennie about her regrets and her own intense loneliness, most specifically, that she did not go into "movies" and "pitchers" like a man had offered She complains to Lennie saying, "I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely" When she discovers that Lennie is more interested in rabbits than her, she gets frustrated and asks why.

When Lennie tells her that he likes to pet nice things, she says, "Ever'body likes that. I like to feel silk an' velvet. Do you like to feel velvet? When Lennie concurs, she says that her hair is soft and lets him put his hand on her head to feel her hair.

When Lennie starts to accidentally hurt her, Curley's wife screams. Ultimately, Lennie, the mentally handicapped giant who makes George's dream of owning his own ranch worthwhile, ironically becomes the greatest obstacle to achieving that dream. Written by: John Steinbeck. Genres: parable; Great Depression.