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The book I have been reading over the last month and a half is “Of Mice and Men”. The story takes place in a town called Weed. There are two men who are companions, a tall man that is slightly mentally retarded is Lenny, and a small man who watches out for Lenny is Gorge. They are looking for a job in Weed, until something bad happens. Lenny likes soft and nice things and he saw a ladies dress when she was walking down the street. He wanted to touch it so he grabbed it, since he has a slight mental disability he panicked when she screamed. He didn’t let go because he was scared, the woman accused him for assaulting her. A “mob” went looking after them and they had to run out of Weed and try to live somewhere else and find new job.
They somehow managed to get on a bus to a farm to go to a “job interview”. The bus driver purposely dropped them off a few miles away from the farm. Gorge gave the driver a hard time because he did that but he just drove off and left them there. Gorge and Lenny camped out under a tree on the side of the road since it was getting dark. They only had a can of beans that they cooked and ate. Gorge said to Lenny, “If something goes wrong I want you to meet me in that ditch over there” as Gorge pointed to it. Gorge asked Lenny again to confirm he understood what to do in an emergency, since Lenny messed up in the town of Weed. Gorge was really angry with Lenny since they both have no job and worse no source of income. Lenny said, “I should go live in a cave so you can live better”. Gorge felt bad so he talked to Lenny about his “life long dream”. Gorge talked about how Lenny wanted to have a farm and he can tend the rabbits, since Lenny loved small soft objects.
As the morning came Lenny and George got on their way to the farm where they might get a job. As they were walking Lenny pulled a dead mouse out of his pocket and started petting it. Gorge looked over and told him, “what are you doing with that?!?” Lenny told him he was petting it and he didn’t want to break it but he accidentally did. Gorge took the dead mouse and threw it as hard as he could across the river. The reason why Lenny liked the dead mouse is because when he was smaller growing up in his home town; his aunt gave him a white mouse. He loved it and played with it often but he ended up killing it by an accident. Gorge and Lenny finally get to the ranch late in the day. The boss who owns the ranch is called Carleson. Carleson asked why they were late and George responded, “The driver dropped us off miles back on the road for no reason.” Carleson believed him and started asked questions about the job. He asked if they had any previous experience and Gorge replied yes. Carleson asked a question to Lenny and George replied for Lenny. Carleson asked, “Why don’t you let the man answer his own questions?” After a while of negotiating they finally get the job. Carleson sends them out to the bunkhouse where they will sleep and live.
When they arrive at the bunkhouse they see an old man in the corner named Candy. Candy has been working on the ranch for a long time and has a dog with puppies. Gorge, Candy, and Lenny have a conversation. Candy leaves to finish off work for the day on the ranch. And another worker steps in, his name is Slim. He is one of the best handy-men on the ranch. Slim talks Gorge about the ranch and other things. Gorge tells the story on how Lenny and himself became friends. They grew up together in the same town. Gorge admits he used to pick on Lenny when they were younger. After a while of chatting Slim says he is impressed about Lenny and Gorge’s friendship with each other. As Carleson comes to the bunkhouse he joins the conversation. He suggests that candy should shoot his dog because its old and it smells. Slim aggress with him about the whole idea, Candy walks in and Slim goes over and talks to him to see what he thinks. Candy is hard at first and doesn’t want to go through with it, but under pressure Candy buckles and finally agrees to do the plan. Carlson takes the dog out back, Slim reads the newspaper, and Candy is sad with a “dead stare”. About a few moments later a gunshot sounds out. Immediately Candy moves his head in the opposite direction.
About an hour later… Candy talks to Gorge about how he regrets having a stranger kill his own dog. He says he should have done it himself and not someone else. The next morning in the bunkhouse Gorge and Lenny talk about their dream to own a farm and have animals and they can live off the land and not have to rely on money and a job or someone else. Candy listens in and says, “Hey! I would like to help out if you can let me live there” Candy offers to chip in his whole life savings to live on the farm. Gorge jumps into a happy mood along with Lenny. Gorge and candy start doing calculations to see how much longer they have to work to save up for the money to buy the ranch. As they do that, As Slim returns with the boss’s son Curley, Slim is upset because he had a bad conversation with Curley. Curley doesn’t like Lenny because Curley is short and Lenny is a lot bigger than him. Curley picks a fight with Lenny and Gorge steps in and says, “Hey! What are you doing he did nothing to you now leave him alone!” Curley says, “Why can’t he answer for himself?” As Lenny stands there with a dumb look on his face Curley hits him. Lenny takes more hits from Curley and Lenny with “fire in his eyes” grabs Curley’s hand and crushes it. Curley falls to the ground as the men in the bunkhouse rush to see what happened. Gorge and Slim force Curley to say he got hurt in a grain hopper accident.
Candy gives Lenny a puppy from his dog and Lenny is very excited. Gorge says, “You don’t need to do that he might hurt it, he doesn’t know his own strength”. Candy insists on giving Lenny the puppy and Gorge breaks and allows Candy to give Lenny a puppy. As all the men from the bunkhouse go into town Lenny stays behind. Lenny plays with his puppy and then winds up walking into the stable. Lenny sees a shut door with light coming under it from inside the stable. He opens the door and walks in to see what’s in there. He sees a black man named Crooks. Crooks says, “What are you doing in here?” Lenny with a dumb reply says, “I saw the light.” Crooks talks about segregation and how he has to sleep in the barn and can’t go into the bunkhouse. Crooks and Lenny have a long conversation. The men return from the town as night falls.
The next day the men wake up to have a horseshoe competition. Lenny goes into the barn to play with his puppy. Lenny accidentally kills the puppy in the process of being played with. Lenny panics and buries the puppy in the hay. As that happens Curley’s wife walks in and sits next to Lenny. Lenny remembers the guys talking about she is “evil” and gets other men in trouble. Lenny and her talk and Lenny says, “I like touching soft things”. Curley’s wife says she does too and she has soft hair and offers Lenny to feel her hair. Lenny touches her hair and grasps it to tight. She screams and again Lenny panics and tries to cover her mouth so no one else will hear her scream. He pulls to tightly and breaks her neck. Gorge walks into the barn to see if Lenny wanted to play. Curley’s wife was lying dead on the floor and Lenny was missing. Candy comes in and Gorge knows Lenny did it. Gorge tells Candy a plan to try to tell the other men that he found her dead. Gorge goes back out to play and Candy goes with the plan and runs outside to say what happened. Curley is extremely upset and says, “I know Lenny did it” Curley runs off to get a shotgun. Gorge runs off to find Lenny before the other men do. Gorge runs to the “safe spot” that Gorge told Lenny to go to if something bad happened. Amazingly Lenny remembered to go there if anything happened like that. Gorge talks to Lenny and tries to calm him down and telling him about his farm idea. Gorge tells Lenny to look at the water and imagine the farm in his mind. Gorge shoots Lenny in the back of the head. As Candy comes to find what happened Candy sees it. Gorge tells him that he had to do it because someone would kill him and he didn’t want a person he hated to do it.
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