Of Mice and Men

It is now Sunday afternoon, and the men play horseshoes outside the bunkhouse. Lennie is alone in the barn, looking “at a little dead puppy that lay in front of him” (95). He makes a plan to bury the puppy in hay, and then to tell George that he found the puppy dead, but he remembers that “George always knows.” Lennie gets angry at the puppy for dying because he is worried that now he won’t get to tend rabbits at the farm, rocking “himself back and forth in his sorrow” (96). Curley’s wife discovers Lennie in this state. She tries to draw Lennie into conversation. He resists stubbornly, but she notices the dead puppy and asks him about it. Lennie admits to her the truth: “[H]e 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” (98). Curley’s wife responds to Lennie kindly, which breaks down his determination to follow George’s instructions and avoid her. She talks openly with Lennie about her hopes of becoming an actress and her dreams of the life she might have had. Her dashed hopes contribute directly to her frustration with her life on the ranch. She admits she only married Curley to get away from her mother and that she “don’t like Curley” who “ain’t a nice fella” (100). When Lennie talks over and over about his rabbits and their softness, Curley’s wife becomes annoyed and then fearful. She shifts away from him, calling him “nuts” but “kinda nice.” She offers to let him stroke her soft hair. However, Lennie strokes her hair too roughly and messes up her curls. When she yells and tries to get away, Lennie clings to her tighter. As Curley’s wife becomes more panicked, Lennie’s fear that George will find out he has been talking with her intensifies. He covers her mouth with his hand, and while she struggles, he explains to her: “You gonna get me in trouble jus’ like George says you will” (103). He shakes her in anger and inadvertently breaks her neck. Lennie is immediately fearful as he realizes he has “done another bad thing” (103). He covers Curley’s wife’s body partly with hay, like he did with the puppy earlier in an attempt to hide it from George. He decides to go down to the river like George previously instructed and takes the dead puppy with him.

In death, Curley’s wife is “very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young” (105). Candy enters the barn and stumbles on her body, and at first, he thinks she is asleep, but once he sees that she is dead, he goes to find George. George immediately understands what has happened and instructs Candy to tell the others. Candy wants to let Lennie “get away” because he knows Curley will want Lennie dead in recompense. When Candy asks George for reassurance about the farm, George is unable to give it. Instead, George talks practically with Candy; he’s worried that the men will find him culpable, even though “Lennie never done it in meanness” (107). Candy and George make a plan. George leaves, and Candy thinks sadly of the farm that will never be as he curses Curley’s wife for causing trouble. He goes to tell the rest of the men, and they enter the barn, “[t]heir eyes found Curley’s wife in the gloom” (109). Curley immediately sets out to find his shotgun, and Carlson follows, intending to get his Luger. Slim makes the connection between Curley’s wife’s broken neck and the incident in Weed, and George nods in agreement as Carlson returns to the barn empty-handed. The men set off to search for Lennie, who is assumed to have stolen Carlson’s missing gun. Candy is left behind as George is forced to accompany the men in their hunt for Lennie.