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Summary and Analysis of Chapter Five
Chapter Five:On Sunday afternoon, Lennie was in the barn petting his new puppy. He had killed the puppy by bouncing it too hard. Lennie scoops out a little hollow and lays the puppy in it. Lennie plans to tell George that he found it dead, but realizes that George will know that he did it. Suddenly Lennie becomes angry at the dead puppy, raging at the puppy for being so fragile and worrying that he won't be allowed to tend rabbits. Curley's Wife enters the barn, wearing her bright cotton dress. Lennie tells her that George forbids him from talking to her, but she tells him that she knows that he broke Curley's hand. She tells Lennie that she gets lonely and needs to talk to people. She asks what Lennie is trying to cover up, and then dismisses the fact that the dog died, for he can get another one. She tells Lennie that she once met an actor who said that he could travel with his show, certain proof that she could live better than she does now. She admits that she doesn't like Curley and wishes that she were in the movies. She asks why he likes rabbits so much, and he says that he likes to pet soft things. She asks him if he likes to feel velvet, and says that her hair is soft. She allows Lennie to feel her hair, but he messes it up. She screams at him to let go, and Lennie covers her mouth to stop her from screaming. She struggles violently, and Lennie breaks her neck. Lennie says that he has done a bad thing, and paws up the hay until it covers her. Lennie leaves the barn with the dead puppy. Curley's Wife lay there half-covered in hay, her rouged cheeks and reddened lips seeming more alive than ever. Candy comes looking for Lennie in the barn, but finds the body of Curley's Wife. He calls for George and shows her. George tells Candy that they should find Lennie and have him locked up. Candy says that they should let Lennie get away, for Curley will have Lennie lynched. Candy worries that this will upset their plans to get a place. George tells Candy to tell the guys at the bunkhouse, and he will come along and act like he hadn't seen her. When George leaves, Candy scolds the corpse for being a lousy tart. Candy does what George said: the rest of the men, including Curley, find the body, and Curley immediately blames Lennie. George tells them that Lennie must have gone south, since they came from the north. George suggests that they find Lennie to have him locked up, but Slim says that Curley will just want to shoot him. Carlson tells them that his gun has been stolen, and Curley blames Lennie. Curley had a shotgun, and rounded up the men to find Lennie. Curley tells Whit to go to Soledad and find Al Wilts, the deputy sheriff. George pleads with Curley not to shoot Lennie, for Lennie is insane and didn't know what he was doing. George suggests that Lennie stay there with his wife, but Slim suggests that Candy stay. Curley orders George to stay with them so that they know that he had nothing to do with the murder. Analysis:Just as George foretold, Lennie accidentally kills his puppy when he plays with it too hard. When he does this, he reveals his greatest fear: that George will become angry at him and thwart their plans to buy land have let Lennie keep a rabbit hutch. He is unable to grasp the consequences of his actions beyond how they may affect him; he even rages against the dead puppy, essentially blaming it for being so easily killed. This quality recurs when Lennie accidentally murders Curley's Wife. Once again he cannot control his physical force and, when he kills Curley's Wife, cannot feel a sense of genuine remorse. Yet Steinbeck rests a great deal of blame for the murder on the victim herself. Her offer to let Lennie touch her hair may be construed as a sexual advance. She even prefaces the offer with a complaint about how she is a lonely woman who dislikes her husband and is dissatisfied with her marriage. Her complaints of loneliness are likely sincere, yet she presents them in a manipulative manner that reduces any sympathy that the reader may have for the character. Curley's Wife clearly believes that she deserves a better life. She considers herself a possible Hollywood starlet stuck in a loveless marriage because she refused what she believes were possible opportunities for greatness. When Lennie kills her, Steinbeck offers a disturbing image. He describes her with more life and vitality as a corpse than he did as a living character, her rouged face and reddened lips giving her the appearance of life even after she is dead. In this manner Steinbeck portrays her as a tremendously false character: her appearance of vitality is entirely separate from her actual self, a masquerade of life that continues even in death. This represents Steinbeck's first concrete praise for Curley's Wife; he writes for the first time that she appears sweet and young, a more commendable character as a corpse than as a living human being. But even in her death she appears a lousy tart,' as Candy calls her, reinforcing the tremendously misogynistic portrayal of this character. When Candy and George find Curley's Wife, George immediately realizes what has happened, and quickly takes control of the situation. George proves himself a sharp thinker who can manipulate the situation. Almost immediately he correctly appraises the situation, knowing almost intuitively several facts of the situation: that Lennie killed Curley's Wife but did so without any ill intention, that Curley would immediately blame Lennie and perhaps even implicate George, and that Curley would forego legal action to murder Lennie himself. Candy's reaction to the murder demonstrates his solipsistic tendency to depend on others. He worries that the murder will prevent his chances of buying land with George and Lennie and having the two men take care of him. Like Lennie he views the situation in instrumental terms, but Candy has the capacity for a more broad viewpoint that Lennie lacks. George gives the men deliberately misleading information about Lennie. He tells them that Lennie would continue to go south, when he has given Lennie specific orders to return to the place near the river north of the ranch. The disappearance of Carlson's gun is a significant plot point. While the workers at the ranch believe that Lennie stole the gun, such an action seems far too premeditated for Lennie, whose escape was likely motivated by panic. Since Lennie does not likely have the gun, this leaves only George, who even disappears for a long enough period of time to steal it. George will likely have to use this gun, foreshadowing the inevitable tragedy and sacrifice to come.
ClassicNote on Of Mice and Men
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