Of Mice and Men Violence Quotes

The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely.

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 1. While George and Lennie dressed the same, that’s where the similarities end. George was small, Lennie on the other hand was huge. They may be friends, but we know they are not equal, as one walks behind the other, like a follower behind a leader. Lennie, the follower, is compared to an animal, a bear – a massive and sometimes violent creature.

“Where we goin’, George?”
The little man jerked down the brim of his hat and scowled over at Lennie. “So you forgot that awready, did you? I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard!”
“I forgot,” Lennie said softly.

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 1. George loses patience with and verbally abuses Lennie for asking the same question over and over again. This highlights the lack of understanding people had for those with a mentality disability like Lennie.

He heard Lennie’s whimpering cry and wheeled about. “Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you!” Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes. “Aw, Lennie!” George put his hand on Lennie’s shoulder. “I ain’t takin’ it away jus’ for meanness. That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie; and besides, you’ve broke it pettin’ it. You get another mouse that’s fresh and I’ll let you keep it a little while.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 1. Though a big man, Lennie is like a child. But he doesn’t know his own strength and when he pets mice usually ends up killing them. George really cares for him and there is a strong bond between them. But the relationship is a bit like a master and his dog, with George sometimes being very mean to Lennie, and then again very sympathetic.

Lennie looked sadly up at him. “They was so little,” he said apologetically. “I’d pet ’em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead – because they was so little. I wish’t we’d get the rabbits pretty soon, George. They ain’t so little.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 1. Lennie explains to George about the killing of the mice. Many creatures do not survive Lennie’s grasp. This foreshadows what will eventually happen to Curley’s wife.

“I’ll try to catch him,” said Curley. His eyes passed over the new men and he stopped. He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists. He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious. Lennie squirmed under the look and shifted his feet nervously. Curley stepped gingerly close to him. “You the new guys the old man was waitin’ for?”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 2. Curley is a short aggressive man who feels he always has to prove himself because of his size. He has a built-in readiness to fight.

“Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ’em because he ain’t a big guy. You seen little guys like that, ain’t you? Always scrappy?”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 2. Candy explains about Curley to George. Curley looks to assert his manliness by fighting. But his victims are always more vulnerable in some way than him. He takes an immediate dislike to Lennie because he is such a huge guy and attacks him in the bunk house.

Carlson laughed. “You God damn punk,” he said. You tried to throw a scare into Slim, an’ you couldn’t make it stick. Slim throwed a scare inta you. You’re yella as a frog belly. I don’t care if you’re the best welter in the country. You come for me, an’ I’ll kick your God damn head off.”
Candy joined the attack with joy, “Glove fulla vaseline,” he said disgustedly. Curley flared at him. His eyes slipped on past and lighted on Lennie; and Lennie was still smiling with delight at the memory of the ranch.

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 3. Candy is verbally attacked by the other men because they recognize how much of a coward and bully he is and only picks on people who can’t retaliate.

She turned on him in scorn. “Listen, N*****,” she said. “You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?”
Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself.
She closed on him. “You know what I could do?”
Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, you keep your place then, N*****. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 4. Curley’s wife viciously attacks Crooks and threatens to have him hung, after he tells her she does not belong in his bunk and should leave.

“Couldn’ we maybe bring him in an’ they’ll lock him up? He’s nuts, Slim. He never done this to be mean.”
Slim nodded. “We might,” he said. “If we could keep Curley in, we might, But Curley’s gonna want to shoot ‘im. Curley’s still mad about his hand. An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George.”

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 5. George is wondering what he should do about Lennie after Curley’s wife’s body is discovered. But Slim understands Lennie’s fate and that there will be no trial or mercy or for Lennie. The kind of mental problems Lennie had were not understood at that time. Slim appears to be encouraging George to carry out a mercy killing of Lennie.

A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 6. With the use of powerful imagery and symbolism, Steinbeck paints a picture of the predatory nature of life and foreshadows Lennie’s imminent death.

Lennie begged, “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.”
“Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.”
And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.

– John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men, Chapter 6. George shoots his best friend Lennie in the back of the head, to save him from prison or a worse fate at the hands of Curley.
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