This chapter starts by first introducing the setting and then
leading into the description of the two main characters. George and Lennie are
sitting by the Salinas River which is just outside a little Californian town
named Soledad. They have found a little place to camp which is tree covered and
not that far from the ranch that they are supposed to work at the next day. Lennie
has a large, intimating body but his character has the mind of a child. George
on the other hand, is a small, defined, smart character that makes decisions
for them both. George, being the
decision maker, decides that they will camp there tonight to relax before they
start the intensive labor work tomorrow. Then George sees that Lennie is petting
a dead mouse in his gigantic hand and demands that Lennie drop it, as it is not
“fresh”. Lennie gets upset which
then makes George mad and George indicates the he would be better off without
Lennie. Lennie decides he can go live in a cave up in the hills and fend for
himself, but George calms down and tells Lennie he doesn't want him to leave. They get a fire going and the Lennie asks George
to tell him about what they’re going to do when they get enough money. This leads to how they are going to have a place for themselves
and have all sorts of animals. Lennie is truly interested in the rabbits he is going to tend on this fantasy farm because they are soft
and Lennie loves soft things. At the end of the chapter they both fall asleep under the starry night.Chapter II This chapter starts with the description of George and Lennies’
new living residence on the farm. They meet an old man who informs them
that the boss is mad that they had not arrived last night and he had to send a
team out with two men short. This old man has one hand cut off and has the
permanent job of sweeping the grounds. He also has an extremely old dog that has
lost his teeth and smells horrible. The Boss comes into the bunkhouse and
expresses his frustration with George and Lennie and informs them they will be
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going out in the afternoon to work. Then the boss asks Lennie a question which
he responds to against George’s orders to not talk. After laying out their stuff and
talking more with old guy whose name is Candy, a short little fellow comes into the
bunkhouse and demands to know if they have seen his wife. This man’s name is Curley
and right off the bat he does not like Lennie for the sole reason of his imposing size.
Almost immediately, Curley’s wife walks into the bunkhouse, and asks about the whereabouts
of Curley. George and Lennie try to ignore her as they do not want to get in any trouble with Curley as he just needs an excuse for
beating up Lennie. Eventually, Lennie expresses his worry of Curley getting him in trouble and George just tells him to steer clear
of both Curley and his wife. At the end of the chapter Lennie and George leave the bunkhouse to go eat lunch with the rest of their co-workers.
Chapter IIIChapter three begins with an evening bunkhouse scene. George and Slim are sitting at the card
table talking. Slim had just given one of his new puppies to Lennie who is
having the time of his life petting his puppy in the barn. Slim and George start
talking about Lennie and how he is the hardest worker Slim had ever seen and how
he is such a nice guy. George goes into the details of how he has to take care
of Lennie and how Lennies always gets himself in trouble. Then Candy and his dog
walk into the bunkhouse. Carlson then makes a comment that Candy should take his dog
out of it’s misery and shoot it. After much deliberation, Candy decides to let Carlson shoot his dog.
After some more bunkhouse conversation Slim walks over to the barn to
tell Lennie that he should stop petting his puppy and to put tar on a horse’s
split hove. Curley enters the bunkhouse again looking for his forever lost wife
and then is informed that Slim is in the barn and he quickly jumps to conclusion that Slim is with his wife.
Lennie comes back to the bunkhouse and tells George that Curley’s wife was not
in the barn. Everyone comes back and starts making fun of Curley because he
accused Slim of messing around with his wife. Curley being irritated decides to fight Lennie. He punches several times before George
tells Lennie to fight back. However, Lennie ends up breaking Curley’s fist because he would not let go.
Lennie ends the chapter by asking George if he can still tend those rabbits.
