Chapter 1

Two men, dressed in denim jackets and trousers and wearing "black, shapeless hats," walk single-file down a path near the pool. Both men carry blanket rolls — called bindles — on their shoulders. The smaller, wiry man is George Milton. Behind him is Lennie Small, a huge man with large eyes and sloping shoulders, walking at a gait that makes him resemble a huge bear.

When Lennie drops near the pool's edge and begins to drink like a hungry animal, George cautions him that the water may not be good. This advice is necessary because Lennie is mentally disabled and doesn't realize the possible dangers. The two are on their way to a ranch where they can get temporary work, and George warns Lennie not to say anything when they arrive. Because Lennie forgets things very quickly, George must make him repeat even the simplest instructions.

Lennie also likes to pet soft things. In his pocket, he has a dead mouse which George confiscates and throws into the weeds beyond the pond. Lennie retrieves the dead mouse, and George once again catches him and gives Lennie a lecture about the trouble he causes when he wants to pet soft things (they were run out of the last town because Lennie touched a girl's soft dress, and she screamed). Lennie offers to leave and go live in a cave, causing George to soften his complaint and tell Lennie perhaps they can get him a puppy that can withstand Lennie's petting.

As they get ready to eat and sleep for the night, Lennie asks George to repeat their dream of having their own ranch where Lennie will be able to tend rabbits. George does so and then warns Lennie that, if anything bad happens, Lennie is to come back to this spot and hide in the brush. Before George falls asleep, Lennie tells him they must have many rabbits of various colors.

KEY QUOTATIONS:

1) "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” (Steinbeck 2).  

2) "Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had done it just right” (Steinbeck 4).  

3) "George’s hand remained outstretched imperiously. Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again. George snapped his fingers sharply, and at the sound Lennie laid the mouse in his hand” (Steinbeck 9)  

4) "God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want” (Steinbeck 11). 

 5) "You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out” (Steinbeck 11).  

6) "I’d find things, George. I don’t need no nice food with ketchup. I’d lay out in the sun and nobody’d hurt me. An’ if I foun’ a mouse, I could keep it. Nobody’d keep it away from me” (Steinbeck 12).  

7) "I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself” (Steinbeck 13).  

8) "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake” (Steinbeck 13).  

9) "With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that give a damn about us” (Steinbeck 14).  

10) "‘An’ live off the fatta the lan’,’ Lennie shouted. ‘An’ have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it” (Steinbeck 14).