Of Mice and Men chapter overviews

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  • Of Mice and Men
    • Chapter Two
      • Begins with scene setting
        • The men have few personal possessions, showing that they move on often
          • No permenance
        • 8 simple bunks against a white washed wall
        • Small square table for playing cards (solitaire)
        • Bed bug killer left behind by Whitey
          • Blacksmith who "just wanted to move" - Shows that men come and go
      • Meet Candy who is repetitively described as "old"
      • Candy tells George and Lennie about Crooks, the black stable buck and his opinion on the boss, Curley and his wife. This gives us some information about the characters
      • See similarities between George and Lennie and Candy and his dog -0 the company and closeness
      • "ThisCurley punk is gonna get hurt if he messes around with Lennie" Foreshadowing what is going to happen between Curley and Lennie
      • Carlson and slim are both introduced as friendly
      • Lennie is dangerous because his innocence is combined with a brute force that he doesn't realise her has
      • Candy's dog, Lulu, has a name which gives him higher status than Curley's wife
    • Chapter Three
      • Begins with scene setting
      • George can talk freely with Slim
      • Events in Weed shows Lennie's capacity for causing trouble
      • Lennie is unable to function within the boundaries of normal human interaction
      • Girl in Weed- foreshadowing what is going to happen with Curley's Wife
      • Lennie brings puppy into the barn. George says "you'll kill him, the first thing you know"
        • Foreshadowing
      • 3 key episodes: - the shooting of Candy's dog , - Candy overhearing The Dream and the crushing of Curley's hand
      • Lennie holds on to Curley's hand like the girls dress
    • Chapter Four
      • In Crooks' room
        • He is a permanent worker so has accumulated more possessions
      • All of the isolated characters together
      • Racism against Crooks- "'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there but I can't because I'm black"
      • Crooks taunts Lennie by saying George won't come back
      • Curley's wife says the menleft behind "all the weak ones".
        • But she has also been left behind because even her husband of two weeks is at the brothel
          • One of the weak ones?
        • Candy stands up to her, made confident by the talk about The Dream
        • Curley's wife threatens Crooks and he shrinks back because she knows his threat can ring true
      • It's a cyclical chapter- it ends as it stars
      • We feel sorry for the prejudice against Crooks as the chapter ends
    • Chapter Five
      • Set in the barn
        • Atmosphere is calm and tranquil until the storm of death
      • Lennie left alone with the dead puppy- foreshadowing what happens with Curley's wife
      • Lennie does not intend to kill, he does not know his own strength
      • Curley's wife- "I get awful lonely"
        • We learn about her Hollywood dream
          • "She went on with her story quickly, before she could be interrupted"- desperate to be heard
            • She's trapped on the ranch, she can't move on like the men
      • Curley's wife's death
        • Her limp body was like Curley's when his hand was crushed- "her body flopped like a fish"
        • To Lennie it's just another bad thing, he does not realise the severity of it
        • The barn is alive even though a death has just taken place
        • The Dream has died with Curley's wife
        • Candy cries over Curley's wife but not because she is dead. His hope has died with her, His dream is now shattered too
    • Chapter Six
      • Cyclical ending
      • Atmosphere of calm
      • Lennie appears to be like small child as he worries over what George is going to say over his "bad thing"
      • Lennie imagines Aunt Clara and a giant rabbit- representative of his obsession with tending the rabbits
      • His hallucinations play on the fear that George will really leave him this time
      • George shoots Lennie- his moral responsibility

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