Plot Summary

(4.) The two main characters from Of Mice and Men are George Milton and Lennie Small. George is a small man with common sense and Lennie is rather large with the mental capacity of a child. They travel together because Lennie's Aunt Clara made George promise to take care of Lennie after she passed away. George is always a loyal friend to Lennie and they are able to bond due to their individual loneliness.
The novel begins with George and Lennie traveling to a farm to be ranch hands and buck barley. When they arrive at the ranch they meet a swamper named Candy and are introduced to the rest of the workers on the ranch such as Slim, Carlson, Crooks, and the boss' son, Curley. Shortly after they arrived, it was easy for George to discern the potential threats.
George and Lennie have a dream of owning their own piece of land which will include rabbits, alfalfa, and a few chickens. Even though this dream is unrealistic, it is illuminated by Lennie's childlike manner. George tries to keep their goals a secret, but it inevitably spreads to the other ranch hands. Candy and Crooks begin pondering their own placement in George and Lennie's ideal world once they raise enough money by working.
When George and Lennie obtained their dream ranch, Lennie wanted to be able to tend to the rabbits, but he knew George would never let him do this job if he caused any more trouble. This is why when Lennie accidentally kills the puppy given to him by Slim he becomes distraught and tries to hide the puppy's body. While sitting in the barn worrying about what George will say, Curley's wife comes in and tries to speak with him. She brings up the subject of her hair and because Lennie has a fixation with soft objects, he grabs ahold of her and doesn't let go, even when she begins to scream. Lennie becomes even more distressed and is unsure of what to do, so he ends up killing Curley's wife. He does not do this out of cruelty, but out of lack of awareness and fear. Lennie realizes that he has done something wrong, so he runs away to the hiding place that George has informed him to run to if bad things happen. Curley and the rest find out about his wife's death, so he decides the only thing to do is kill Lennie. When everyone on the ranch is forced to go on a man hunt, George is the one who ends up shooting Lennie in the back of the head.