Steinbeck’s use of stories within a story help readers understand the relationships between the characters in the book “Of Mice and Men”. One of the examples when a character’s story helps understand their interaction with other characters is when George tells Slim about how he used to treat Lennie in the past. “One day a bunch of guys was standin’ around up on the Sacramento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more” (40). George’s guilt about this incident explains why he constantly takes care
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“The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now… There wasn’t another colored family for miles around. And now there ain’t a colored man on this ranch an’ there’s jus’ one family in Soledad” (p.70). Crooks feels lonely and out of place as the only person of color at the ranch, which explains why he keeps his distance from everyone else. The only person he opens up to and tells his experience is Lennie, because of his mental disability. Crooks isn’t afraid of any consequences of being judged because he thinks Lennie has an innocent mind of a child. This shows Crooks’s interaction with other people, and the tragedy of his life, as the only person he can talk to is a person who doesn’t understand him. Another person who chooses to confess to Lennie about their problems is Curley’s wife. Infuriated as she realizes that everyone at the ranch views her as an object Curley possesses, she tells Lennie something she “oughten to. I don’ like
“The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now… There wasn’t another colored family for miles around. And now there ain’t a colored man on this ranch an’ there’s jus’ one family in Soledad” (p.70). Crooks feels lonely and out of place as the only person of color at the ranch, which explains why he keeps his distance from everyone else. The only person he opens up to and tells his experience is Lennie, because of his mental disability. Crooks isn’t afraid of any consequences of being judged because he thinks Lennie has an innocent mind of a child. This shows Crooks’s interaction with other people, and the tragedy of his life, as the only person he can talk to is a person who doesn’t understand him. Another person who chooses to confess to Lennie about their problems is Curley’s wife. Infuriated as she realizes that everyone at the ranch views her as an object Curley possesses, she tells Lennie something she “oughten to. I don’ like