My personal annotations of the book Of Mice and Men, chapters one through four.
“I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.” (p. 7)
The fact that George would say that to Lennie, plus the fact that the statement is probably true, is evident that George is really close to Lennie. The reason being is because, even though George is mentally aware that he could probably get along with his own life a lot better then right now, when he’s with Lennie, he still stays with him, showing that they care about each other a lot and has a lot of trust towards each other. It shows that George cares about Lennie so much he would probably stick with him no matter what happen.
“”I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself. No, you stay with me.” (p. 13)
This shows that George really cares about Lennie, even though he curses at him and sometimes falsely shows that he hates him and wants him to go away. It also shows that, in a way, George needs Lennie just as much as Lennie needs him, so they can be together, no matter what they go through. It also shows that George would never abandon Lennie.
“Well, I think Curley’s married… a tart.” (p. 29)
This is evident that the people around the ranch gossip a lot, and probably have nothing else to do in their spare time but talk to each other about things. With the constant spreading of information from one person to another, there are bound to be misunderstandings and various untrue gossips that are told from time to time. From these gossips, there are also bound to be some stereotypes and opinions that might not be entirely true.
“Why’n’t you get Candy to shoot his old dog…” (p. 36)
Carlson making this comment shows that he believes that once something, or even someone, gets old, they are no longer worth anything anymore. This event, in which Carlson proposes that Candy’s old dog be shot because it’s old and not useful is strong evidence of this belief. Since Carlson has this belief, perhaps maybe the people around him have this belief, and it may even be a widely accepted opinion.
“I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple.” (p. 45)
Carlson is trying to make a point to Candy that the dog is no longer useful and should be “put out of its misery”. Even though he may only be trying to persuade Candy to kill the dog, because he personally doesn’t like the dog, but it may lead a hint to something else. It shows that Carlson has a belief that old and crippled things don’t deserve to live any longer, and killing them would just be putting them out of their misery. Since Candy himself is old and crippled, this is a really strong indication of Carlson’s and possibly even the others’ view on Candy.
“We could live offa the fatta the lan’.” (p. 57)
This shows the dream that Lennie and George both hold for the future. It shows that they both want to get some land so they could live by themselves peacefully and have no one bother them. They want to have nobody to tell them what to do, and to just mind their own business. This is important because they both plan on actually getting the land in the future, so they have something to work and stride for together.
Lennie, reluctant to fighting back to Curly while he was confronted by him, eventually took George’s advice and fought back, although still unwilling too. He crushed Curly’s hand with ease, then said, “You tol’ me to, George,” miserably while sulking to the corner of the room. (p. 63-64)
Even though that Lennie is strong enough to crush Curly’s hand very easily, and could possibly even kill him with relative ease, he is really reluctant to harm anybody, even when commanded to do so by George. Even after he did crush Curly’s hand, he let go and didn’t continue his retaliation, and even showed an incredible amount of regret and sadness in crushing his hand. This shows that, even though Lennie is really strong, he is unwilling the use his strength to harm other people. It also shows that Lennie is very capable of causing immense amounts of harm to other people with little or no effort.
“Ain’t nobody goin’ to suppose no hurt to George.” (p. 72)
Lennie seems to be very protective of George, and won’t let any harm come to him. This shows that he really likes George, and has a really strong bond with him. This also, in a way, shows that George is really kind to Lennie and cares for him for Lennie to be so protective of him. It might be because Lennie would be all alone if he didn’t have George, and doesn’t want to not have him too.
“I was jus’ playin’ with him… an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me… an’ I made like I was gonna smack him… an’… an’ I done it. An’ then he was dead.” (p. 87)
Lennie, even though not consciously on purpose, killed the puppy given to him by Slim, because he felt threatened by the dog, since it seemed to him the puppy was going to bite him. He accidentally killed the dog with one smack, which shows that his strength is actually enough to kill small animals with ease, even though in no case he does it on purpose. It also shows that every time that Lennie gets threatened in one way or another, he loses control of himself very easily and ends up either killing or seriously injuring the thing that threatens him, proving that he is very dangerous if messed with.
-Kelson Fung, September 21th, 2007
My annotations of quotes and events in chapters five and six of the book, Of Mice and Men.
In this chapter, Lennie unintentionally explains that he always kills what he pets, because they’re soft and when they “attempt to harm him”, he accidentally hits them, or something else to stop them. Then, Curly’s wife offers him to touch her hair, since she
it’s really soft because she brushes it everyday. (p.85-90)
This foreshadows that Lennie will accidentally do something to harm Curly’s wife, as he has done to other things and people in the past. It hints at the conclusion that Lennie will eventually unintentional kill her, because he might feel threatened by her in some way. It also shows that Lennie will get in trouble for causing harm to her, and would be forced to come up with a way to escape.
“And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” (p.91)
I chose this quote from this chapter, particularly because of the reason that it can be so straightforward with the fact that Lennie had killed a person. Also because that it shows that Lennie has indeed killed her. It is shocking that Lennie would do that, although his purpose was just to stop her from yelling.
“George moved slowly after them, and his feet dragged heavily” (98)
This quote shows that George was really sad, not with what Lennie had done, but that Lennie would have to face the consequences for what he had done. It shows that he was really sad that the people would try to kill him and possibly give him a torturous life. It even hints at the fact that George was sad that he would lose Lennie.
“… George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” (p.106)
The fact that George would kill Lennie was very shocking. They were really good buddies, and were going to stick with each other no matter what. They trusted each other as if they were family, and maybe even more then that. They cared for each other, and they needed each other. Yet, the quote shows the George didn’t want to kill Lennie. It shows that he was, indeed, reluctant to do it. This shows that George didn’t kill him as punishment for killing Curly’s wife, but instead for his own good. He didn’t want Lennie to suffer torture, or being killed by the other guys, or even a stranger, so he killed him himself to prevent Lennie from further suffering.
-Kelson Fung, September 27th, 2007
