Steve,+Dylan,+and+Austin

**__Of Mice and Men By: John Steinbeck__**

Summary: [[image:Mice_and_Men.jpg width="307" height="611" align="right"]]
Of Mice and Men starts out by a river in California during the Great Depression. George and Lennie are two migrant farm workers traveling to a farm for their new jobs. When they get to the farm they meet the boss, Slim, Curley and his wife. Lennie does not like it at the farm and wants desperately for him and his friend, George to buy their own piece of land where they can live happily ever after. When everyone is in their living space Carl finally has enough of Candy's smelly old dog, and persuades him to kill it. As Carl, Candy and others go out to kill the dog Curley picks a fight with Lenny (bad idea). Curley starts beating Lennie who is not fighting back because he is scared. Then George tells Lennie to defend himself, and Curley is then beaten to a pulp. Curley accepts his defeat and leaves ashamed of himself. The next day the whole farm gang except for Crooks and Lennie went into town. Alone in his bunk, Lennie dreams of his own farm, just his and George. After that the farm gang is having a horseshoe tournament, and again Lennie is alone in his bunk. Curley's wife comes in and starts flirting with him. They start talking and one thing led to another and Curley's wife ends up with her neck snapped, dead. Lennie leaves and hides in the thick woods, where George told him to hide if he ever got into trouble. A search party ensues and everyone is looking for Lennie. Some of the men have guns and are willing to shoot Lennie as soon as they spot him. Luckily, George finds Lennie before everyone else and talks about the farm they are going to own and how they will finally be happy. George then shoots him in the head because he wants Lennie to die happy with an everlasting image of their dream.
 * Characters ||
 * George || Small, Smart, Looks after Lenny, Does all the talking for the both of them, Hard worker ||
 * Lenny || Tall, Strong, Great worker, Takes orders well, Gentle giant, Likes to pet soft stuff ||
 * Slim || Tall, Skinny,Good with his hands ||
 * Curley || Son of the boss, Small but thinks he is tough, Hatred for Lenny (he does not like tall people) ||
 * Curley's Wife || Flirty, Playful, Has fun, Always looking for something fun to do ||
 * Candy || Swamper, Loves his old smelly dog that no one else like ||
 * Carlson || Think bodied, Hates Candy's dog ||
 * Crooks || Black, Disabled, Stable buck, Keeps his distance from the other workers ||

Setting and Tone:
The setting of Of Mice and Men is on a farm in California during the Great Depression. The farm is located south of San Francisco, near the Salinas River. The tone of the book is tragic, pity, and somewhat amusing and comical.

Symbols:
In Of Mice and Men, [|John Steinbeck] uses many symbols to represent important ideas from this period of time. Crooks and Candy both represents all people who were discriminated against in the old days because of their skin color (Crooks), and Candy (age). Candy's dog symbolizes anything that is no use to man anymore because of their age, just like Candy. George represents the average person and Lenny represents people discriminated against because of mental disabilities. Finally, George and Lenny's farm symbolizes protection from the rest of the world, paradise and liberty.

Themes:
In Of Mice and Men, there are three main themes. the first is friendship and loneliness. George and Lennie's friendship is a special bond that cannot be broken. When George shoots Lennie in the back of the head, he helps Lennie escape the horrible fiat of being killed by Curley. Loneliness is shown through Candy and his dog. Candy loves the old dog but once it is killed he is saddened because he lost his companion. The second theme is broken dreams. George and Lennie desperately want to own their own farm away from the rest of the world. Once Lennie is killed by George, that dream will never become a reality. Finally, the third theme is discrimination. Throughout the book ,many of the characters are discriminated against. Candy and his dog because of their age, Crooks because of his skin color, and Lennie for his mental disability.

Critique:
I thought Of Mice and Men was an instant classic. Once i started reading it, I found it hard to put it down. I liked everything about the book especially how I thought Of Mice and Men was an instant classic. Once i started reading it, I found it hard to put it down. I liked everything about the book especially how John Steinbeck made Lennie enormously gentle and innocent. I did not like how Curley's wife was unfaithful to Curley and the fact that she did not care about his well-being. I think the author, John Steinbeck did a great job with Of Mice and Men by taking you on an exhilarating journey that engulfs you in the magic of Of Mice and Men. I give this book a 11/10 and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys being sent on a thrill ride through exciting town.