Krishna
Lennie and George come by a pool. Lennie is large and George is smaller but nimble and seems more intellectual.
Apart from being monumentally stupid, Lennie also was uncontrollable. As George described it, they were working in a farm where Lennie did 'bad things' and they were run out of the farm with people looking for them.
They are now on their way to another farm far away to meet the boss and find some work. George says that he will do all the talking and Lennie was to just stay quiet until they get the job. He also wonders aloud why he, George, has taken to dragging Lennie along with him when Lennie is such an encumbrance.
They join the farm in the morning. George is worried about Curley, the supervisor's slutty wife and warns Lennie strongly to "leave her alone".
When they make a plan with Candy, another man in the farm about getting some land, Candy offers them seed money if they will partner with him. They accept but stupidly Lenny and Candy admit as much to the stablehand, the black guy Crooks. He offers to work in the form just for his upkeep. When Curley's wife tries to talk to the 'boys' Crooks tries to intervene but she warns him off saying that 'he will hang if he has the temerity to oppose her'. He subsides.
Next Lennie finds that a pup that he was petting had died and is planning to throw it away before George finds out when Curley's wife comes and tries to flirt. He holds her hair (silky, she says) and when she realizes that he is holding it too strong she starts screaming. In a panic, Lennie tries to silence her but "accidentally" breaks her neck. She is lying partially covered in hay while Lennie slips away trying to get rid of the body of the pup.
When George sees it, after Candy found her body, he instantly guesses what happened.
The ending is heart rending and only logical. It is also sad.
Still, there is one thing that is not clear to me: The title of the book. Why is it 'Of Mice and Men'??
All in all, I think it deserves a 6/10.
-- Krishna