Chapter Six - * character/plot: where Lennie returns to the brush to meet his inevitable fate, George kills him and destroys his own hopes and dreams, (oh, and something about a heron killing a snake and a giant talking bunny telling Lennie he's nuts). * themes/ideas: where Steinbeck shows the ultimate futility of dreams and fragility of friendship; shows how we are powerless and at the mercy of fate/more powerful forces; tells us that the world is a cruel, uncaring place, where we are stuck in a never-ending cycle of hope and disappointment.
NOTE: the Rabbit hallucination and the symbolic stuff with the heron and the snake is towards the bottom of the page. Only look at these if you are a confident critical thinker and are strong on understanding symbolism.
The death of Lennie
Look at the passage below. As soon as George told Lennie to return to the brush if something bad happened, we've known it was going to end back in the brush. Steinbeck uses a cyclical structure (goes in a circle) to make this clear, which makes all the other events inevitably lead to this point. Make a list of all the bits from this final chapter that are repeated/similar to the opening of the book. Why is Steinbeck using so much repetition? What is he saying about the lives of these men - and about our own lives?
Look at the bit in black, bold font. How is this ironic and heartbreaking?
Look at the purple section. Why does Steinbeck use a really short sentence after 2 longer ones for the actual killing?
Right after the trigger pull, the sound 'rolls up the hills and rolls back again'? What atmosphere does Steinbeck create through the repetition of the onomatopoeia of 'crash' and the repetition of the soft physical action of 'roll'?
Next, look at the juxtaposition of 'jarred' and 'settled' together with the 'he lay without quivering'. How does Steinbeck create a feeling of peace? What other event is echoed through the 'without quivering' and why is this important?
Lennie, who represents hope and belief in the American Dream, as well as vulnerable innocence (and other things) dies without a struggle (unlike Curley's Wife!). Come up with several possibilities about what this can symbolise thematically (ie real life, not book characters).
Lennie got up on his knees. “You ain’t gonna leave me, are ya, George? I know you ain’t.”George came stiffly near and sat down beside him. “No.” “I knowed it,” Lennie cried. “You ain’t that kind.” George was silent. Lennie said, “George.” “Yeah?” “I done another bad thing.” “It don’t make no difference,” George said, and he fell silent again. Only the topmost ridges were in the sun now. The shadow in the valley was blue and soft. From the distance came the sound of men shouting to one another. George turned his head and listened to the shouts. Lennie said, “George.” “Yeah?” “Ain’t you gonna give me hell?” “Give ya hell?” “Sure, like you always done before. Like, ‘If I di’n’t have you I’d take my fifty bucks—’” “Jesus Christ, Lennie! You can’t remember nothing that happens, but you remember ever’ word I say.” “Well, ain’t you gonna say it?” George shook himself. He said woodenly, “If I was alone I could live so easy.” His voice was monotonous, had no emphasis. “I could get a job an’ not have no mess.” He stopped. “Go on,” said Lennie. “An’ when the enda the month come—” “An’ when the end of the month came I could take my fifty bucks an’ go to a . . . . cat house—” He stopped again. Lennie looked eagerly at him. “Go on, George. Ain’t you gonna give me no more hell?” “No,” said George. “Well, I can go away,” said Lennie. “I’ll go right off in the hills an’ find a cave if you don’ want me.” George shook himself again. “No,” he said. “I want you to stay with me here.” Lennie said craftily—“Tell me like you done before.” “Tell you what?” “’Bout the other guys an’ about us.” George said, “Guys like us got no fambly. They make a little stake an’ then they blow it in. They ain’t got nobody in the worl’ that gives a hoot in hell about ‘em—” “But not us,” Lennie cried happily. “Tell about us now.” George was quiet for a moment. “But not us,” he said. “Because—” “Because I got you an’—” “An’ I got you. We got each other, that’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us,” Lennie cried in triumph. [cut] George had been listening to the distant sounds. For a moment he was businesslike. “Look acrost the river, Lennie, an’ I’ll tell you so you can almost see it.” “We gonna get a little place,” George began. He reached in his side pocket and brought out Carlson’s Luger; he snapped off the safety, and the hand and gun lay on the ground behind Lennie’s back. He looked at the back of Lennie’s head, at the place where the spine and skull were joined. A man’s voice called from up the river, and another man answered. “Go on,” said Lennie. George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again. “Go on,” said Lennie. “How’s it gonna be. We gonna get a little place.” “We’ll have a cow,” said George. “An’ we’ll have maybe a pig an’ chickens . . . . an’ down the flat we’ll have a . . . . little piece alfalfa—” “For the rabbits,” Lennie shouted. “For the rabbits,” George repeated. “And I get to tend the rabbits.” “An’ you get to tend the rabbits.” Lennie giggled with happiness. “An’ live on the fatta the lan’.” “Yes.” Lennie turned his head. “No, Lennie. Look down there acrost the river, like you can almost see the place.” Lennie obeyed him. George looked down at the gun. There were crashing footsteps in the brush now. George turned and looked toward them. “Go on, George. When we gonna do it?” “Gonna do it soon.” “Me an’ you.” “You . . . . an’ me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ‘em.” Lennie said, “I thought you was mad at me, George.” “No,” said George. “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.” The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices. Lennie begged, “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.” “Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.” And 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. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.
The loneliness of George: the death of friendship
Look at the passage below. Why does George lie about what happened? Do you agree that this was necessary - why/why not?
Some critics view George's lie as the ultimate betrayal and that without Lennie's hope, friendship and love, George is just like 'other guys', getting through each day, blowing his money on booze and women and has lost anything special. How much do you agree or disagree?
The last words in the book are Carlson's "what's eatin' them guys?". Bearing in mind Carlson's early, honest but brutal actions, why is it important that Steinbeck gives him (and who/what he represents) the last words? What kind of world is it that doesn't 'get' what has been lost through the death of Lennie? What kind of world does Steinbeck leave us with and what does he tell us through this?
George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it from him, back up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes. The brush seemed filled with cries and with the sound of running feet. Slim’s voice shouted. “George. Where you at, George?” But George sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand that had thrown the gun away. The group burst into the clearing, and Curley was ahead. He saw Lennie lying on the sand. “Got him, by God.” He went over and looked down at Lennie, and then he looked back at George. “Right in the back of the head,” he said softly. Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. “Never you mind,” said Slim. “A guy got to sometimes.” But Carlson was standing over George. “How’d you do it?” he asked. “I just done it,” George said tiredly. “Did he have my gun?” “Yeah. He had your gun.” “An’ you got it away from him and you took it an’ you killed him?” “Yeah. Tha’s how.” George’s voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held the gun. Slim twitched George’s elbow. “Come on, George. Me an’ you’ll go in an’ get a drink.” George let himself be helped to his feet. “Yeah, a drink.” Slim said, “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me.” He led George into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway. Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”
Chapter Six - optional but significant: Lennie runs through the brush to the safety of the clearing. He hallucinates and is confronted with bitterness and the truth.
character/plot: where the death of the farm dream is clear even to Lennie; where the rabbit, that once represented hopes, dreams and vulnerability, is now cynical, bitter and brutally honest, showing much more strength as a result.
themes/ideas: where Steinbeck makes it clear that dreams of happiness are just ridiculous illusions and that the world is a harsh, brutal place with no room for the vulnerable.
Look closely at the words and phrases that the rabbit uses. Which character (or possibly two) is echoed through Steinbeck's language here? Find at least 3 key words or phrases that are similar to the other character(s). Why is it important that these characters are given the strong voice here? What can this symbolise about society?
Remember how Lennie said he was going to beat the cat's skull with a stick if it hurt the rabbits? What can be symbolised by the idea of George beating Lennie?
What does the sudden revelation of Lennie's apparent psychosis/hallucinations tell you in terms of whether he can function in society? Find the quote where 1-2 characters said what would happen if Lennie was put in a booby-hatch (mental asylum) - is it fairer for George to kill him rather than Lennie continue in this state?
From out of Lennie’s head there came a gigantic rabbit. It sat on its haunches in front of him, and it waggled its ears and crinkled its nose at him. And it spoke in Lennie’s voice too. “Tend rabbits,” it said scornfully. “You crazy bastard. You ain’t fit to lick the boots of no rabbit. You’d forget ‘em and let ‘em go hungry. That’s what you’d do. An’ then what would George think?” “I would not forget,” Lennie said loudly. “The hell you wouldn’,” said the rabbit. “You ain’t worth a greased jack-pin to ram you into hell. Christ knows George done ever’thing he could to jack you outa the sewer, but it don’t do no good. If you think George gonna let you tend rabbits, you’re even crazier’n usual. He ain’t. He’s gonna beat hell outa you with a stick, that’s what he’s gonna do.” Now Lennie retorted belligerently, “He ain’t neither. George won’t do nothing like that. I’ve knew George since—I forget when—and he ain’t never raised his han’ to me with a stick. He’s nice to me. He ain’t gonna be mean.” “Well, he’s sick of you,” said the rabbit. “He’s gonna beat hell outa you an’ then go away an’ leave you.” “He won’t,” Lennie cried frantically. “He won’t do nothing like that. I know George. Me an’ him travels together.” But the rabbit repeated softly over and over, “He gonna leave you, ya crazy bastard. He gonna leave ya all alone. He gonna leave ya, crazy bastard.” Lennie put his hands over his ears. “He ain’t, I tell ya he ain’t.” And he cried, “Oh! George—George—George!” George came quietly out of the brush and the rabbit scuttled back into Lennie’s brain.
Chapter Six - optional but significant: The heron and the snake from the opening chapter come back. It's all very deep and meaningful.
character/plot: a watersnake sticks its head above the water and is eaten by a heron.
themes/ideas: where Steinbeck makes it clear that we are all at the mercy of fate/a higher power; that we have no control over our own lives, no matter how powerful we may be; that life is about survival; that our lives are a cycle broken only by death etc
Look closely at the language Steinbeck uses in the first chapter. How does he create an atmosphere of safety? Knowing how it ends, how does he foreshadow death (and specifically, the death of the snake)?
Look at Steinbeck's use of language as the more powerful creature unthinkingly, instinctively kills the weaker creature. One word should really pop out because it is similar to at least one other major event. Why does he link these ideas? What does the word symbolise about the struggle for life?
Considering these elements, who or what can the heron and snake symbolise (either in terms of characters from the story itself or ideas/events/themes linked to them)?
Long shot time: if you apply religious imagery to either/both of these extracts, how many different interpretations can you come up with? Which are most likely? How can they work with the thematic ideas behind Mice? To help you out: the snake typically is associated with temptation or evil (Garden of Eden); the natural surroundings with paradise/the Garden of Eden; the heron was used in early Christian symbolism to represent Christ as herons devour and defeat snakes (symbolic of evil).
This is from the first page of the first chapter, just before Lennie appears:
Evening of a hot day started the little wind to moving among the leaves. The shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray sculptured stones. And then from the direction of the state highway came the sound of footsteps on crisp sycamore leaves. The rabbits hurried noiselessly for cover. A stilted heron labored up into the air and pounded down river.
and the first chapter, just before they make camp and make arrangements to return to the same spot of brush if something bad happens: A water snake slipped along on the pool, its head held up like a little periscope. The reeds jerked slightly in the current.
This is from the first page of the last chapter, just before Lennie appears: The deep green pool of the Salinas River was still in the late afternoon. Already the sun had left the valley to go climbing up the slopes of the Gabilan Mountains, and the hilltops were rosy in the sun. But by the pool among the mottled sycamores, a pleasant shade had fallen. A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically. A far rush of wind sounded and a gust drove through the tops of the trees like a wave. The sycamore leaves turned up their silver sides, the brown, dry leaves on the ground scudded a few feet. And row on row of tiny wind waves flowed up the pool’s green surface. As quickly as it had come, the wind died, and the clearing was quiet again. The heron stood in the shallows, motionless and waiting. Another little water snake swam up the pool, turning its periscope head from side to side.