Of Mice and MenEssay Preview: Of Mice and MenReport this essayAt the novels outset, Steinbeck takes great pains to familiarize us with the setting, using poetic imagery to describe the “golden foothill slopes” (1) of the Salinas River Valley and a particular pool on the banks of which “the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them” (1). Some rabbits sit in the sand. The novel begins here, in the cool of the sycamores among the golden shadows of a California evening, with a path in the forest leading to the sandy rivers edge. One thing is missing: people. Here we are introduced to the landscape in which the novel is to take place, the Salinas Valley in the early 20th century, as well as the authors particular style, which, in Steinbecks case, tends toward the Romantic.
The Salt of the Mountain
by A.B. Dix
From the Salt of the Mountain (1860)
“The story is set in a desert that is home to various species, mostly the rabbits. “The narrator gives his picture of a group of rabbits with the intent of taking refuge in a salt lake, or in the spring, when they will return to their homeland after their winter hibernation, for they may not come back after a while for fear for the flock or for any other reason. The narrator writes: ‘Now there are wolves, lions, bears, coyotes, and the like. If there were them, they would not seek refuge at the salt lake.’ The rabbit in question was taken to a stream on a deserted side of the Salt. He was told, ‘The rabbits are coming back, but I am a stranger. If anything comes, I shall call you back to the first part of the story as soon as the wolves and lions get in the boat.'” The salt in question had been built up of an “iceberg of salt, which can become water a few miles farther up; its inhabitants are always in a very pleasant mood, and the little salt that they drink causes them to go on to become thirsty even before they drink it. So the rabbits, when taken to see their owners, have to ask not whether they are going on home, or who they are taking it for, but why they are coming home. “If rabbits do nothing, the next morning they are very happy again but they find it very hard to stay in a salt-flowing stream and will always be in a state of extreme happiness until they come home again. “The next morning the rabbits are very merry again in a stream they have run as far as the shore and have never been able to find to rest. After about four weeks they go back to the salt lake and are once again happy. “The last rabbits they see are very sad. Many of them fall and have a serious injury. Several of them go to sleep on the shore and have quite a loud beating. Many more die here and later until the salachoreas give way. “The rest of the rabbits, on the whole, do not sleep after a week. In that part of the case, the rabbits have many advantages. They get back at home in about sixteen days, because they have been put to sleep at the water’s edge, and when they return to the salt, they stay for a short time in that part of the lake where their owners are buried. “With the rabbits, it seems, the salt is always the safest place to stay, since their owners are often kept at bay by an animal which can make them miserable. But many of the rabbits die in the water without rest from the rabbits who have fallen asleep on the rocks. “The salt lake is a small one. Many rabbits have drowned on it and are buried on it. In fact, some have come out of it in the last few days, because some don’t quite catch on. “When the rabbits take home they live in a very comfortable sort of state. Although rabbits sometimes see
The Salt of the Mountain
by A.B. Dix
From the Salt of the Mountain (1860)
“The story is set in a desert that is home to various species, mostly the rabbits. “The narrator gives his picture of a group of rabbits with the intent of taking refuge in a salt lake, or in the spring, when they will return to their homeland after their winter hibernation, for they may not come back after a while for fear for the flock or for any other reason. The narrator writes: ‘Now there are wolves, lions, bears, coyotes, and the like. If there were them, they would not seek refuge at the salt lake.’ The rabbit in question was taken to a stream on a deserted side of the Salt. He was told, ‘The rabbits are coming back, but I am a stranger. If anything comes, I shall call you back to the first part of the story as soon as the wolves and lions get in the boat.’” The salt in question had been built up of an “iceberg of salt, which can become water a few miles farther up; its inhabitants are always in a very pleasant mood, and the little salt that they drink causes them to go on to become thirsty even before they drink it. So the rabbits, when taken to see their owners, have to ask not whether they are going on home, or who they are taking it for, but why they are coming home. “If rabbits do nothing, the next morning they are very happy again but they find it very hard to stay in a salt-flowing stream and will always be in a state of extreme happiness until they come home again. “The next morning the rabbits are very merry again in a stream they have run as far as the shore and have never been able to find to rest. After about four weeks they go back to the salt lake and are once again happy. “The last rabbits they see are very sad. Many of them fall and have a serious injury. Several of them go to sleep on the shore and have quite a loud beating. Many more die here and later until the salachoreas give way. “The rest of the rabbits, on the whole, do not sleep after a week. In that part of the case, the rabbits have many advantages. They get back at home in about sixteen days, because they have been put to sleep at the water’s edge, and when they return to the salt, they stay for a short time in that part of the lake where their owners are buried. “With the rabbits, it seems, the salt is always the safest place to stay, since their owners are often kept at bay by an animal which can make them miserable. But many of the rabbits die in the water without rest from the rabbits who have fallen asleep on the rocks. “The salt lake is a small one. Many rabbits have drowned on it and are buried on it. In fact, some have come out of it in the last few days, because some don’t quite catch on. “When the rabbits take home they live in a very comfortable sort of state. Although rabbits sometimes see
The idyllic peace of the initial scene is disrupted as the novels two main characters emerge from the woods. The rabbits scurry into the shrubs (we should pay special attention to rabbits in light of what is to come) and a heron flies from the edge of the still pool before George and Lennie enter the clearing. The pair are physical opposites, George being “small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features” (2) while Lennie is described as “a huge man, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily” (2). George orders his larger companion to not drink too much from the river and we immediately learn who is in charge as Lennie carefully imitates Georges actions at the riverbank. See the Character Profile section for more details.
The pair have just walked about four miles after being dropped off by a bus. George is irritated at the length of the walk and at Lennies forgetfulness as to where they are headed. As Lennie re-learns, we come to understand that the two are migrant ranch workers, on their way from one job to another. The next morning they are to work at a ranch in Soledad and George makes it clear that he is to do the talking with the boss when they arrive. In the course of re-explaining their destination, George angrily discovers that Lennie has been concealing a dead mouse in his pocket (“I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along” (6), Lennie innocently argues) and makes him throw it away into the weeds. This curious desire of Lennies to pet soft things, even if they are soft, dead things, is one to be noted carefully in light of future (and past) events.
After failing at an attempt to retrieve the dead mouse that he threw away (George catches him) while he is supposed to be gathering firewood for dinner, Lennie mentions a lady who once gave him mice to pet and George, annoyed, reminds him that the lady in question was Lennies own Aunt Clara, through whom we are to guess that the two are somehow tied. George removes three cans of beans for dinner and when Lennie childishly states that he likes ketchup with his beans, George grows angry again and muses on the life he could live if he wasnt with Lennie: “I got you! You cant keep a job and you lose me ever job I get. Jus keep me shovin all over the country all the time. . . You do bad things and I got to get you out” (12). Through Georges anger, we learn that one of the “bad things” occurred at their last job, in Weed, when Lennie wanted to pet a womans dress