Of Mice And Men

5 Pages 1324 Words

Act One, Scene 1: a clearing in the woods. George and Lennie are running from the police, and arrive in the clearing to hide. George vents his frustration at Lennie always getting the two of them in trouble, and George having to get them out (Trouble, always trouble: that's all you're good for.). This time, Lennie had been fascinated in a childlike way by the fabric of a woman's dress, but she'd interpreted his petting it as a rape attempt, and when she screamed Lennie had panicked and gripped tighter. George gripes about how much better his life would be without Lennie (My life would be so simple by myself). But he doesn't really mean it, any more than Lennie means his offer to leave (Just give me the word and I'll strike out alone). This seems to be their ritual.

Lennie has a mouse in his pocket; he had accidentally killed it by stroking it too hard. George, angry, throws it away, and Lennie laments (It was something I could stroke). George cheers him up by reciting their long-standing dream: to get a farm of their own, and live in security (One day soon, we'll save up enough). They lie down to sleep, haunted by the sound of police sirens in the distance.

Act One, Scene 2: the bunkhouse. Curley, the ranch boss, and Candy, and old crippled ranch-hand, are in the bunkhouse. Curley is cursing George and Lennie for arriving late (They said they'd be here this mornin', damn good-for-nothin' ranch-hands!). Curley's wife, young, bored, and frustrated, comes in to plead for attention and a night out (with Curley) (I want to go into town tonight). Curley throws her out churlishly, and she responds with equal churl. Both storm out.

In come George and Lennie, reporting for work. Candy sends them to their bunks, as the ranch hands return from the fields (Oh, I met her in Frisco in the month of July). Slim, the most respected of the hands, offers his dog's new litter of puppies to the men. Lennie, with childlike glee, asks George if he...