OF MICE AND MEN

By John Steinback

Summary:

This story is about two guys who are trying to find work in the great depression. George use to work for Lennie's aunt. Lennie was considered to be " mentally challanged". When his aunt died Lennie did not have no other family so George who worked for Lennie's aunt promised to take care of him. Lennie had a child like mine, loved animals, and was big and powerful. He never ment any harm, he just like to pet things and they usually died. George took Lennie and they went all over the country side trying to find work. When the found a ranch needing help George had to sit down and tell Lennie he was not able to pet anything that did not belong to him. Well the son of the ranch owner had a beautiful wife who Lennie like to smell her hair. One day in the barn she told Lennie to smell her hair and when he did she got frighten and tried to get away. It was to late Lennie broke her neck with his powerful strength and killed her. George had to run away with Lennie to keep him safe. Lennie did not know that his body was so strong and when he touch things he killed them. George ended up killing Lennie for his mental problem because they were going to end up going to jail and George knew Lennie did not have a chance in jail.

Relation to Class:

In Chapter 7, page 288 talks about Mental Retardation that is referred to as developmentally disabled, developentally delayed, or mentaly challenged. People within these catorgories differ greatly in their cognitive abilities and their ability to fnction independently. Like Lennie he had to have George make his decisions for him since he was not cable of making decisions for himself. Also reading in Chapter 7 talks about retardation could be cause by contact of German measles, alcohol, or other toxins before birth; oxygen deprivation durging child birth; and head injuries, brain tumors, and infectious diseases. During Lennie's life there was not a lot of immunizations back during the great depression or great medical doctors back then so any of these things could have trigger Lennie's problem.