Jeremy Craig

Jeremy Craig

Of Mice and Men

John Stienbeck

Realistic Fiction

Holiday

Just Finished

1. At the end of this book there was a huge unexpected turn of events. After Lennie kills Curley's wife, he goes and hides in the brush where George told him to go. When George comes to find him, he talks to Lennie and tells him about how he was never mad at him for anything. Then, abruptly with no warning, George pulls out a gun, puts it on the back of Lennie's head and pulls the trigger. This made no sense at the time when I read it because there was no warning, but now I see that George was protecting Lennie from a much worse death.

2. What I liked most about this book were the characters. The author was very good at making the reader like or dislike the people he created. An example is how right from the beginning, I liked George a lot and I felt bad for Lennie. Also with Curley, how I disliked him for his attitude. The plot wasn't very adventurous, but it wasn't too bad because I got to get more detail about the one place they stayed in for the duration of the book.

3. In my opinion, the overarching theme was hope, because the characters and plot were based upon the hope of someday owning land. For the most part, George and Lennie were striving to earn enough money to buy some land and have rabbits. But this theme also encompasses all the other characters at one point or another, such as when Slim thinks for a moment that he too could be a part of their dream, and Curley has the hope to be respected despite his size.

4. My favorite character was Lennie because he seemed so simpleminded and also a good person. I liked how he always tried to do the right thing but he never could really control himself, and in the end this is how the plot was guided. It got to the point where he accidentally killed Curley's wife and then had to be put down by George so he wouldn't have to be killed in a more brutal way that he wouldn't have understood.

5. My least favorite character was Curley, because he was always so mean to everyone, including Lennie, who didn't understand why he was this way. Also Curley was mean to his wife and isolated her, then when he was away she would have to sneak out.

6. The ending of the book was very unexpected, but also reasonable because George saved Lennie from a lot of misunderstood pain. George was one of the nicest characters in the book and at first I thought I was wrong but then I thought about it and he was actually being a good friend and a humane person to end Lennie's life in a quick, painless way.