Chapters
1 and 2
1 and 2
George and Lennie are traveling toward this ranch job.
Barley/ranch job in Soledad
Slim gives Lennie one of these as a gift.
A puppy
Candy and Lennie visit this character’s room.
Crooks
Lennie accidentally kills this animal in the barn.
A puppy
Lennie returns to this spot after the incident.
the riverbank / the brush
Lennie is carrying something in his pocket at the start of the book, which George throws away.
A dead mouse
Candy struggles with this decision.
Letting Carlson shoot his dog
Crooks shows Lennie this object that symbolizes his isolation.
his dictionary / his books
Curley’s wife lets Lennie touch this because it is soft.
Her hair
Lennie hallucinates two figures who scold him.
Aunt Clara and a giant rabbit
George tells Lennie to hide here if he gets into trouble.
The brush by the river
George tells Slim this story about what he once did to Lennie.
Playing a mean trick where he made Lennie jump in the river
Crooks tells Lennie that people become “mean” when they experience too much of this.
loneliness
The main reason Lennie panics during the conversation with Curley’s wife.
She starts screaming
George distracts Lennie before shooting him by describing this.
the dream ranch / the rabbits
Curley immediately dislikes Lennie for this reason.
His size / he’s bigger than Curley
This event causes Curley’s hand injury.
Lennie defended himself when Curly came after him and crushed Curly's hand
Crooks briefly believes the dream could happen when he hears this.
The men have enough money soon
Curley’s wife reveals she once dreamed of doing this.
Becoming an actress
Slim reacts to Lennie’s death in this way.
Comforting George / understanding he had no choice
This is the main reason George takes care of Lennie.
Loyalty and promise to Lennie's Aunt Clara
They travel together
George, Lennie, and Candy realize their dream may be possible when this happens.
Candy offers his savings.
Something happens and Crooks later takes back his offer to join the dream after this moment.
Curley’s wife humiliated him
This is the event that marks the beginning of the end of the dream.
Lennie killing Curley’s wife
Carlson’s final line suggests this theme of the novel:
“Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”
lack of empathy / loneliness / emotional numbness