James+and+Tyler+B

=Of Mice and Men = =Written By: John Steinbeck/ Link- Steinbeck = =By: James Sagazio & Tyler Beam =

**Book Summary**
 * Two men named George Milton and Lennie Small go to work at a plantation during the depression to raise money for a private farm they want to buy. As they are working, they they meet many people that interact with them and put them through different situations. Since Lennie has a mental problem, along with a muscular build, he is prone to getting into trouble through different accidents he has. On their way to the farm, George makes afuntrivia.com/playquiz/quiz7298285d758.html with Lennie, that if he gets into trouble while there, he can hide at their last camping spot. While setting their bunks in the farm bunkhouse, they meet the workers of the plantation and learn some interesting aspects of the life on the farm and each person. Later on, Lennie meets up with Crooks, a secluded African-American worker. As they start having a conversation, Crooks becomes more open about his feelings. A few days later, Lennie is in the barn mourning over a dead puppy that was promised to him but he accidentally kills it. Then the flirty wife of the owner's son walks in and they start talking. She begins making slight signs of flirting towards him and, in a panic, Lennie accidentally kills her. Following George's orders Lennie goes to hide at the designated spot to wait for George. When the woman's husband finds her, he sets up a party of people to hunt down Lennie. Finding no alternative, George runs ahead and shoots Lennie to keep him from being prosecuted, or having Curley hurt him. In conclusion George's now broken and empty life without Lennie, shows how they were never able to accomplish there dream of one day owning a piece of land to call there own.

 Characters and Traits

 * **George:** George is Lennie's friend, who always seems to get Lennie out of trouble he gets into. George and Lennie also share a dream of one day owning some land, with a small house on it, and some rabbits. George's appearance is catergorized as short, and smaller then Lennie. Towards the end of the book George also shoots Lennie in the back of the head while they are sitting in the forest.
 * **Lennie:** Lennie is mentally slow, which meens he is not very smart. He also can not renember instructions or events very well. Lennie's apperance is catergorized as tall, and he is also very child like due to his mental problem.
 * **Slim:** Slim is a caracter that everyone in the story seems to show respect to and like. Many charcters look towards Slim for advice during several times in the story. On this farm Slim works as a very skilled mule driver.
 * **Curley:** Curley is the bosses son, and thinks he is better then everyone else because of it. Curley is also very agressive towards bigger people, because is very short and small. Curley is also very suspicious of his new wife when he does not know where she is.
 * **Curley's Wife:** Curley's wife is very flirty, and is refered to as a tramp in the book. She is the only female character in the book, and does not have an official name. She also always talks about how lonley she is, and in result trys to talk to the other workers on the farm.
 * **Candy:** Candy is described as an older racher, that has a beard. Candy also had a dog that smelled terrible, and in result Carlson gets permission from Candy to shoot the dog and take it out of its missery. Candy heard about Lennie's and George's plan of owning land someday, and he offers all his life savings into helping pay for this dream they both share.
 * **Carlson:** Carlson is a rancher at the farm. Carlson also is an owner of a gun; the same gun that George uses latter in the book to shoot Lennie. Carlson's gun is also used after he complains so much about Candy's old smelly dog, that Candy lets him shoot it.
 * **Crooks:** Crooks is a bitter African- American who is forced to live out in the barn away from everyone else because of the color of his skin. However he is allowed to play horseshoes with everyone else, and he enjoys talking to Lennie.

 Symbols
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 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**George and Lennie's Farm:** This represents peoples' fantasies and dreams, a desire of self reliance, and a possibility of freedom. This shows how George, Lennie, and Candy want to be masters of their own lives.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Candy's Dog:** This dog represents anyone or anything that outlives its use or purpose. Candy's dog was once strong and useful on the farm, but now he is just old, useless, and smells bad.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Bunnies:** The bunnies represent responsibility, and happiness. The care for bunnies requires a certain amount of responsibility, something that Lennie does not seem to have, and never will be able to because of his slow mental capability.
 * Themes**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Discrimination:** The people on the farm and in society discriminate a lot toward blacks like Crook's. They show discrimination, because they segregate where each race sleeps. For example, Crook's is forced to sleep out in the barn, while everyone else sleeps away from him in a different building. Crook's is not even allowed in there building, and he is not allowed to go into town with everyone else either.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Broken Dreams:** George, Lennie, and Candy never got to get that piece of land with a little house on it, and bunnies. This dream was shattered when Lennie accidently killed Curley's wife, and in result George shot Lennie.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Friendship and Loneliness:** George and Lennie represent friendship because they always had each other. Unlike many of the other migrant farm workers who were probably very lonely because they did not have any one else lookign after them like George and Lennie did for each other. We can see the true friendship between George and Lennie when George wants the best for Lennie and is telling him to not talk to Curleys wife and to stay out of trouble.

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 * Setting and Tone**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">There are several tones that this book could represent, those are tragic, doomed, moralistic, and fatalistic.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The location of this book takes place south of Soledad, California. The time period the book takes place is in the 1930's, during the Great Depression.

**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> C ** **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">ritique of Book **
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 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">James Sagazio: **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Overall I thought the book was very intresting, and it held my attention all the way through. The themes this book showed were discrimination, broken dreams, friendship, and loeliness. All of these themes in my opinion made the book very fascinating, and informative. All of these themes, especially the one of broken dreams made a big impression on me. I felt verry sorry for George who felt it was best to shoot his best friend Lennie after Lennie had accidently killed Curley's wife, with this action, George, Lennie's, and Candy's dream of owning a piece of land with a little house was crushed.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Tyler Beam: **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Overall I liked the book, because it was in a past historical setting. The way the people talked was different from many other books, it really made it sound like it was taking place in that time period. All the themes represented in this book made the book also very different from other books I read in the past. All the themes were represented very well throughout the novel, especially the one with friendship and loneliness. Because George and Lennie always had each other, until George felt it best to shoot Lennie for his bad action of accidently killing Curley's wife.

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