Of Mice and Men chapter 1 summary

Of Mice and Men chapter 1 summary

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Setting                  

Chapter one of the novel is set beside the Salinas River

Main Characters

George – is one of the protagonists in the novel.

Lennie – is the secondary protagonist in the novel.

The boss – he is the boss of the ranch and Curley’s father.

Aunt Clara – she is a kindly old woman back in Auburn, who may or may not have been Lennie’s biological aunt.

Plot Summary

George and Lennie, two migrant workers during the Great Depression, walk along a trail on the Salinas River just south of Soledad, California. They are on their way to a new ranch, where they hope to be hired to "buck barley,” that is, to haul sacks full of grain. A bus driver recently let them out and told them the ranch was nearby. However, the walk is much longer than they anticipated.

George is a small, quick man with dark, suspicious eyes. Lennie is just the opposite: a naive, unintelligent mountain of a man. As they walk along, Lennie comes upon a pool of water and drinks thirstily; George warns him that the water might be bad as it has been stagnant in the sun, but Lennie pays him no heed. After Lennie drinks his fill, George quizzes him on the upcoming job. Lennie, however, fails to remember even the slightest detail of their current prospect. George reminds him that they have received work cards from Murray and Ready’s.

As George pats his pocket, where the work cards are kept, he notices that Lennie has something in his pocket as well: a dead mouse. Lennie explains that he likes to pet the mouse’s soft fur as he walks. George takes the mouse from Lennie and throws it into the bushes. He then admonishes Lennie for his behavior, warning him not to behave badly, as he has done so often in the past, and ordering him not to say a word when they meet the boss at the new ranch. He reminds Lennie of past misadventures, specifically an episode in the town of Weed in which Lennie assaulted a woman in a red dress because he thought her dress was pretty and wanted to feel it. The woman accused Lennie of attempting to rape her and George and Lennie had to run for their lives out of town. While recounting this incident, George complains that if he did not have to take care of Lennie he could live a normal life: "I could live so easy and maybe have a girl”.

George tells Lennie that they are going to bivouac a couple of miles away from the ranch so that they will not have to work the morning shift the next day. They set up camp and George sends Lennie off to look for firewood so that they can heat up some beans. Lennie goes off into the darkness and returns in a moment; George instantly knows from Lennie’s wet feet that he has retrieved the dead mouse. He takes it from Lennie, who begins to whimper. George assures Lennie that he’ll let him pet a "fresh” mouse, just not a rotten one. They recall that Lennie’s Aunt Clara, whom Lennie refers to as "a lady,” used to give Lennie mice to play with.

Lennie fetches some wood and George heats up their beans. Lennie complains that they do not have ketchup, which sets George off on a rant about having to care for Lennie. After this outburst, George feels ashamed. Lennie apologizes and George admits that he has "been mean”. Lennie passive-aggressively offers to go away and live in a cave so that George can have fun. George resolves this short argument by agreeing to Lennie’s request to "tell about the rabbits,” which is Lennie’s shorthand for "talk about how things will be for us in the future.” George paints a picture of the future; a picture he has obviously painted countless times before, in which he and Lennie have their own place on their own farm and "live off the fat of the land.” He promises Lennie that they will have rabbit cages and that Lennie will be allowed to tend them. Lennie repeatedly interrupts George as he tells this story, but insists that George finish it to the end.

As they prepare to sleep, George reminds Lennie not to say a word during their interview with the boss the following day. He also tells Lennie that if he runs into trouble, as he has so many times before, he is to return to the place where they've camped, hide in the brush and wait for George

Themes

1. The American dream. The American Dream of every individual’s right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” has been ingrained within American society since the writing of the Declaration of Independence, when the phrase made its first appearance. George and Lennie’s dream of working hard and saving enough money to buy their own farm and "live off the fatta the lan” symbolizes the concrete ways in which the American Dream serves as an idealized goal for poor and working-class Americans even in the darkest and hardest of times.