John Steinbeck

The tragic story of the friendship between two migrant workers, George and mentally retarded Lenny, and their dream of owning a farm

Of Mice and Men

"You remember Andy Cushman, Lennie? Went to grammar school?"

"The one that his old lady used to make hot cakes for the kids?" Lennie asked.

"Yeah. That's the one. You can remember anything if there's anything to eat in it."

"Guy don't need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus' works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain't hardly ever a nice fella."

"Ain't many guys travel around together," he mused. "I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other."

"But not us! An’ why? Because .... because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why."

"A guy needs somebody -to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya," he cried, "I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."

I cannot help but love the intention and attention to detail with which Steinbeck writes. A true master of literary devices, executed clearly yet elegantly and cleverly. His writing also has such fantastic sense of what makes a story and a scene impactful and affecting.

Of Mice and Men

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