Of Mice and Men

Notes

Chapter 4

Loneliness

How do the characters deal with loneliness in their lives?

Crooks Not allowed in bunkhouse Reads books

Candy Migrant worker

Dog is killed

Gets a dog

Goes in on the dream

Curley’s wife Married to a jerk

Only girl on the ranch

Flirts with other guys

Curley Small guy

Nobody likes him

Starts boxing

Starts fights

George Migrant worker

Lennie causes problems

Takes Lennie

Confides in others like him (Slim)

Idioms

• “Booby hatch” (72) =insane asylum• “Corn” (79) =whisky made of

corn• “doped out”(83) =figured out• “sellin’ me…” (78) =trying to make one

believe• “Take you out of the box” =reference to death-

(75) he’ll be out there until he dies

• “Went with shows” =an entertainer who traveled with shows (79)

Allusions

“Roll up your hoop..”=popular amusement for youth

-running with large metal hoop

-his way of saying Curley’s wife is immature