Of Mice And Men Chapter 5 Summary And Analysis

Lennie has accidentally killed his puppy and is now holding it as he sits in the barn. He is blaming the puppy for its death. Suddenly, there is someone coming towards his direction. It is Curley’s wife who is coming.

He tries to hide the dead puppy using hay. Lennie insists that Curley’s wife should not hold any conversation with him. She insists that she is the only one that can offer company to Lennie since the other people are off to a tournament. When she sees the hay, she inquires from Lennie what caused the death of the puppy.

To this, Lennie responds that he jokingly hit the dog when they were playing, but the puppy died accidentally. Because Lennie is sad, Curley’s wife offers him consolation saying Curley will get another dog. Lennie fears that his carelessness with the puppy may make George prevent him from caring for the rabbits.

Curley’s wife reveals that she only got married to escape from her mother, who hid her letters from the movie agencies. At this point, Lennie tells Curley’s wife of his love for soft pet objects. Curley’s wife allows Lennie to touch her hair gently. However, Lennie’s touch is too tight, and she feels he may destroy her hair. Lennie tries to make her quiet since he is alarmed by the way she is shouting. That frightens Curley’s wife, and she tries harder to resist Lennie’s hold. The two continue struggling with each other. As the shakes continue, Lennie accidentally breaks the neck of Curley’s wife. As she dies, Lennie panics and runs to the spot where George said they should meet if anything goes wrong in the ranch.

Candy is the first person to notice that she is dead. That prompts him to look for George. Lennie is the person they all know did it. Candy is instructed by George to inform the other men of the happening. George does not want any of the men to have a suspicion that he had a hand in the death. Therefore, he runs out to pursue the killer as well. When Curley gets the information, his mission is to revenge. He instructs Carlson to bring the gun. Candy stays behind to watch Curley’s wife as he thinks of the end of their dream to purchase a ranch.

Because George does not want the men to get to Lennie, he takes them in the wrong direction. At this point, it is obvious that the dream George and Lennie had to purchase a ranch is now over. The main agenda that George has is how to deal with Lennie’s situation. He does not want Lennie to be humiliated. George is confused as he cannot escape or leave Lennie alone.