Outside Reading Blog #2

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place....With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us."

When Geoge said this quote, he was talking about him and Lenny being migrant workers, and how they always move around finding jobs, never able to stay in one place and developing a close relationship with someone. But they are different from most of the migrant workers because they have each other as company and are able to care for one another. Also, they have been traveling together for a long time, and also have plans for the future. Whereas most migrant workers work for money to drink and gamble with, George and Lenny are planning to get money to start their own farm, which translates to the whole point of the book.

"Well, you ain't bein' kind to him keepin' him alive."

Carlson said this to Candy after he saw his real old dog struggling to survive and laying down the floor, tired and hardly able to move. The old dog of Candy's smelled really bad when he entered the room they were in, and could not eat solid food. It took a lot of effort for Candy to care for him, because the dog couldn't do anything but sleep. When Carlson suggested to shoot him, Candy was reluctant because the dog had been an old friend, when they used to herd sheep together. When Candy finally agreed to let Carlson kill the old dog, it was a foreshadowing to what would happen to Lenny in the end, when George was forced to kill him.

"We could live offa the fatta the lan'."

Because of George and Lennie's dream of owning their own farm, Lennie believed that in the future they wouldn't have to starve or worry about money ever again. They had planned to grow their own crops and raise animals. Lenny said this quote because he believed he and George would live happily in the future, tending their own little home and being able to live off the food that they grow themselves. This idea is part of the American Dream, having your own place, and self sustenance, being able to maintain yourself.

"Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror."

This moment happened when Curley attacked Lennie during one of their encounters. When both Carlson and Candy verbally attacked Curley about his wife, Lennie was smiling at the happy thought of the farm he was going to own with George in the future. Curley thought he was laughing at him, and started to attack him. Lennie, not knowing what was going on and being an extreme pacifist, cowered in fear of Curley's punches. This showed the contempt that Curley felt against Lennie, being a little mentally challenged, and depicted the ongoing conflict between the two characters.

"The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again."

Near the end of the story after Lennie accidently killed Curley's wife, it was inevitable that he would be hunted by Curley, who already had a grudge against him for breaking his hand earlier in the book. Everyone who knew Lennie well enough felt sympathy towards him, and knew he had not meant it to happen. George, knowing that he could not allow any more of this to happen anymore, decided to kill Lennie himself instead of Curley hunting him down. Therefore, in this end scene, George took Lennie back to the hiding place in the beginning of they story, and shot him in the back of the head. The dream that they both shared had disappeared without success, showing the impossibility of the American Dream.