ShmoopTube

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Of Mice and Men, a la Shmoop. You ever get the feeling you’re in an unequal

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partnership? I gotta do everything around here. Find the next job, stop Lennie from

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drinking out of strange puddles…

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…keep track of our work permits, discourage Lennie from pocketing dead rodents ...

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Heck, the big lug would probably forget to breathe if I didn't poke him every few minutes.

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Lennie Smalls, indeed. If he's small, then I'm the president of the United States.

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…Hey… drop it! Sometimes that guy drives me crazy, obsessing

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over ketchup and then asking me to tell the same story for the nine millionth time.

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Yes, we’ll get our own place, yes we’ll live off the fat of the land, and there will

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be lots of rabbits. Enough already! It’s bad enough that I’m constantly changing

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my address to avoid all the angry letters from animal rights activists.

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And the guy’s a hopeless case with the ladies. He’s got the “strong, sensitive” thing

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going for him, but grabbing a gal’s dress and refusing to let go isn’t the way to

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get a second date.

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Aw, who am I kidding? Even though he's a pain in the backside, I just can't stay angry at

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Lennie.  Maybe I'll even get him a rabbit.

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Okay, maybe a stuffed one... I’m not sure if I like the new gig yet;

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bucking barley is hard work. And it also sounds like slang for throwing up.

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The company sure leaves something to be desired, too. There’s Candy, the handless wonder,

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and his stinky dog, and the charming Carlson, who disliked the stinky dog enough to volunteer

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for shooting duty.

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What is this, Old Yeller?

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Crooks is always grumpy, just because he’s a friendless cripple who lives next to the

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manure pile and gets picked on because he’s black. He doesn’t even appreciate his awesome

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nickname. Cuz he has a crooked spine, get it? What a whiner.

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Then there's the boss' son, Curley, who, sadly, is nothing like the Stooge. He is a little

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like Moe, I guess. They both have bad hair and anger management issues.

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Curley’s married to…well, how do I describe his wife…she’s like a small-town Marilyn

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Monroe, if Marilyn had married the wrong guy, and become a malevolent, soulless harpy.

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I don’t like her, can you tell? In fact, I haven’t done much since I came

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here but squabble with Mr. and Mrs. Curley. I don’t know that woman’s name, but I

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know her middle name...trouble. She's totally boy-crazy, which is a very bad

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thing when your husband's a jealous boxer.  

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Champ or no, he sure made a mistake picking a fight with Lenny. Curley almost had to change

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his name to "Stumpy."

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Luckily, my buddy Slim convinced Curley to zip his lips about the smooshed hand incident,

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and getting that wise guy to shut up about anything is a pretty good trick.

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Slim’s pretty good with people, actually. He's kind of like the ranch therapist. …

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I’m starting to change my mind about Candy, too, now that he isn’t stinking up the place

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with that dog.

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He found out about our dream of starting a rabbit-friendly farm…

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…and it turns out the old dude has a chunk of change stored up.

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Now, if I can just keep Lennie out of trouble long enough to save a bit more, we might be

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living on easy street pretty soon! Or, maybe not. Lennie just killed another

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one. Except this time, it’s not a mouse…it’s a lady. Guess who?

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First they bonded about petting things, and next thing I know I’m lookin’ at a dead

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broad and no Lennie. Curley’s gonna go off his rocker.

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I just had time to cook up a cover story with Candy… nothing ruins your day quite like

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being framed for murder… before the gang showed up and started baying for blood.

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Slim took me aside, and made some good points about Lennie’s future. Either my best buddy’s

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going down under Curley’s gun, or it’s straitjackets and the nuthouse for him.

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Lennie’s no hardened criminal, and I don’t think they allow pets in the mental asylum.

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I guess I know what I gotta do. Field mice everywhere can breathe a big sigh of relief,

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but I’ll never look at a rabbit the same way again.

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