Set in Salinas and Soledad, California during the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men is a tragic story of two adult ranch workers, George and Lennie. George must care for Lennie, who has a mental disability. In the end, George must kill Lennie because he comitted murder. Slim, one of their fellow ranchers, recognizes the necessity and walks away with George. What truly bothers George and Slim is the fact that they will be the only ones who really know what happened to Lennie. Being responsible for the death of his best friend, George feels an unimaginable amount of guilt, but Slim is there to help him. First of all, one of Slim's remarkable characteristics is his perceptiveness. From when we are first introduced to him, to the end of the book, Slim demonstrates godlike and intelligent characteristics, being one of the few people George opens up to about Lennie. One instance of Slim's insight occurs at the end when, “Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. 'Never you mind,' said Slim. 'A guy got to sometimes'” (107). Here, Steinbeck uses the …show more content…
Throughout the book, we see many instances where Steinbeck has been preparing us for the ending. Lennie's trouble in weed, killing of the puppy, and petting of the dead mouse foreshadowed Curley's Wife's death. When Carlson's Lugar kills Candy's dog, we can see a foreshadow of Lennie's death. One of the most revealing quotes of all is when, “George said, 'I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody'd shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself'” (13). The quote has a lot of hidden meanings, as Lennie does end up getting shot like a dog; Candy's dog to be specific (right in the back of the head). Also, Lennie is killed when he is alone, explaining the “if you was by yourself” part. Lastly, someone was ready to hunt him when the shooting happened