post 7 of 7 -Griselda

Griselda Casillas
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Read book one by Oct. 6
Post by Oct. 6


Hey Julianna,

I agree with you that Lennie seems to remember the most important information that he thinks is important in his life. I think Aunt Clara showed up in Lennie’s imagination because he felt so much guilt of what he did and wanted to feel like it was truly his fault of killing Curley’s wife and the pup. Although we know it was an accident. I agree when you said that George never really trusted Lennie 100% because he knew that Lennie would forget about keeping their dream a secret and would tell everyone about their plan. George was a nice guy. Who kinda never pressured Lennie to much. Although, he sometimes got mad when their job was at risk.

post 6 of 7 -Griselda

Griselda Casillas
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Read book one by Oct. 6
Post by Oct. 6


Hey Julianna,

I also agree with you that Lennie didn’t want to kill Curley’s wife and pup on purpose because he doesn’t truly know his own strength. I think that Curley’s wife mom didn’t let her daughter get the job because maybe she thought that women were supposed to stay home and do the housework. Another reason could be that her mother wanted her to marry Curley because she thought Curley was a good guy and would give her daughter what she deserved. Likewise, the mom might have doubted that her daughter would be famous in the future and didn’t want her feelings to get hurt if she didn’t succeed.

            Steinbeck might have chosen rabbits because probably when he was younger he wanted to have a rabbit(s), but never got the opportunity. Maybe, Steinbeck’s favorite animal is a rabbit. I think Curley’s wife never had a name because probably the author couldn’t come up with a name that would describe her and would make it a little harder for the reader to cope with the idea that she had died. Like if she was a real person with a name and all.

Post 7 of 7- Julianna

Julianna Hale
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Read by Oct. 6
Post by Oct. 6

Hi Griselda, it's our final post for the first book(yay!)

I just wanted to start by saying that I think it is completely sad about what happened to Lennie. The fact that George cared about him so much that he shot him was so bittersweet. He would rather have let Lennie die and be with all his rabbits and puppies, then to have seen him rot in a jail cell for killing Curley's wife. You are right that a theme is smartness. George always tells Lennie to repeat things so that he won't forget but sometimes he ends up forgetting anyway. In this case, however, he remembered what George told him about going into the brush and waiting for him there. It seems that Lennie only retains the information that his brain thinks is most important in his life. He never seems to forget about living "off the fatta the lan'" or raising rabbits and he doesn't forget about hiding either, his brain seems to pull out the necessary information at the right time. Lennie does end up "seeing his Aunt Clara" but why do you think Lennie thought she was saying what a burden he was to George. I would think that him seeing her would be foreshadowing his death but nothing is mentioned about that. Finally, I do think that a theme in the book is trust. From the very beginning Lennie trusted George no matter what, even up to the very end. However, I don't think George ever trusted Lennie 100%. He was always telling Lennie not to tell other people about their plans of getting enough money to get their own land but even when Lennie did tell, George didn't seem mad at all; like he knew it was going to happen anyway.

Post 6 of 7- Julianna

Julianna Hale
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Read by Oct. 6
Post by Oct. 6

Hi Griselda

I agree with you very much that Lennie becomes heartbroken and frightened. I think it is very sad that Lennie doesn't understand his own strength. All he wanted Curley's wife to do was be quiet; he was touching her hair and she said, "You stop it now, you'll mess it all up...let go..you let go." (91) She started screaming and Lennie didn't want to get into any trouble so he kept holding on and shaking her until her neck broke. I honestly believe that he didn't kill the pup or Curley's wife on purpose. As I said, Lennie is a big guy who doesn't know his own strength and it just got way out of hand. As you mentioned, she was telling the story of why she ended up marrying Curley and it was because her mom wouldn't let her get a good job. I'm guessing that this was probably in 1910 so do you think her mom had a belief that women shouldn't work, that they should stay home and cook and clean or do you think there was another reason? It was mentioned that Curley's wife asked why Lennie had a thing with rabbits and that he likes to pet soft things. This is a completely over analyzing question, but why do you think Steinbeck chose rabbits and not ducklings or lamb? Could Steinbeck possibly have a personnel story about rabbits from his own life? My final question/comment is, why do you think Curley's wife never got a name? She was never called by anything specific; it was just Curley's wife. I feel that she had a big enough role in the book to get a name. Do you think that giving her name could possibly make it harder for the reader to read when she dies because a name makes somebody real, who they are?

post 5 of 7 -Griselda

Griselda Casillas
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Read book one by Oct. 6

Post by Oct. 6

Hey Julianna,

While reading your post I agree with you that another theme Crooks portrayed was bravado because as you said, “At first Crooks thinks that Lennie wants to come in and bother him because he is Black but after he realizes Lennie wants to pet the puppies, he lets him in but is still very cautious. He acts like he wants to be left alone but he really does like having the company of other people”.

I agree with you that he treasures his job and doesn’t want to lose it, but currently doesn’t love his job on the farm. I agree with you that he seems like a quiet guy, who just wants to do his job. But he does seem to be a conflicted man, who stands up for what he believes. Crooks showed that when he had the argument with Curley’s wife.

Post 5 of 7- Julianna

Julianna Hale
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Read by Oct. 6
Post by Oct. 6

Hi Griselda

As I was reading your post for section 5 (pgs. 65-81) I do agree with you that a theme in this section in loneliness but I think a more appropriate theme is bravado. Crooks is just sitting in his room and he says, "Don't come in a place where your not wanted" (69). Then he tells Lennie to "Come on in and set a while" (69). At first Crooks thinks that Lennie wants to come in and bother him because he is Black but after he realizes Lennie wants to pet the puppies, he lets him in but is still very cautious. He acts like he wants to be left alone but he really does like having the company of other people. I do agree with you that he does show confidence. He does stand up to Curley's wife but then he loses all that confidence after she says, "Listen, Nigger, you know what I can do to you if you open your trap?" (80), which is exactly what you said.  He stands up for what he believes in but he treasures his job more and doesn't want to lose it. I like that Crooks is a quiet guy. When Lennie talks about petting the rabbits and living off the fat of the land, Crooks brings up living with them but doing a lot of the house work and farming. He doesn't want to lose his job but he doesn't like his current job on the farm; he seems like a very conflicted man.

post 7 of 7 (pgs. 97-105) -Griselda

Griselda Casillas
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Read book one by Oct. 6

Post by Oct. 6

Hey Julianna,

          As I read the last section of the book (pgs. 97-105) I noticed a theme Lennie portrayed was smartness because he had remembered what George told him in the beginning. Lennie said, “I di’n’t forget, you bet, God damn. Hide in the brush an’ wait for George” (98).  Another theme Lennie showed was imagination because he thought he saw his Aunt Clara. Lennie was imagining things because he felt guilt of killing someone and the trouble he had caused George from the beginning.

           Lennie’s aunt stated, “All the time he coulda had such a good time if it wasn’t for you” (99). Lennie responded, “I know, Aunt Clara, ma’am. I’ll go right off in the hills an’ I’ll fin’ a cave an’ I’ll live there so I won’t be no more trouble to George” (99). Aunt Clara disappeared and there stood a rabbit that said, “ Tend rabbits. You crazy bastard. You ain’t fit to lick the boots of no rabbit. You’d forget ‘em and let ‘em go hungry” (99). Lennie replied angrily, “I would not forget” (99). The rabbit wickedly said, “He’s gonna beat hell outta you an’ then go away an’ leave you” (100). Lennie yelled, “He ain’t, I tell ya he ain’t” (100). Lennie was yelling George’s name and George showed up. 

          Another theme I saw was trust between George and Lennie. For example, George was making Lennie trust in him because he didn’t want Lennie to know that he was about to kill him. George was telling the story about how they would own land and stuff. George told Lennie, “Look acrost the river, Lennie, an’ I’ll tell you so you can almost see it” (102). George took Carlson’s Luger out, but before killing Lennie in the back of his head, George said, “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know” (103). 

         George wanted Lennie to remember the goods times they had together and what they would have been in the future. This connects to real world situations because sometimes people do what they believe is going to be better for others and themselves. For example, when George killed Lennie, he did that so Lennie wouldn’t suffer more. Like getting hanged or go to jail for killing Curley’s wife.