Chapter 1 Response

Chapter one "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck introduced the setting and main characters. The story begins with a short description of a riverbed in the state of California, soon after Lennie and George are introduced. We discover at Lennie has slight mental disabilities, and George is looking after him. Both characters are running away because of a mistake Lennie had committed, and are now going to a farm for work. In collaboration, they have the same dream, and want to follow through with it. The movie and story are more alike than contrasting. One section I found contrasting was when the beginning of the story and movie. In the movie it shows a woman running across a field, while in the book a beautiful scene is described. The language is exactly the same in both book and movie. There is a southern type of slang that is spoken through the movie and text. The events in the book are also found in the movie, and they are in chronological order. I noticed that in the book it is easier to see that Lennie is being compared to animals. At first he was compared to a horse, then bear, then dog. In the movie it is less noticeable then it being written in text. Other similarities are how the characters were described in the book and how they appeared in the movie. George being angular and small, while Lennie being tall and broad. As readers we can relate with George's struggles with Lennie. How he is frustrated that Lennie keeps forgetting and is disobeying him. Even though Lennie does this things, George still loves him because he is like his younger brother. We go through these types of problems as well in our everyday lives. Our vexation with our younger siblings, parents, friends, students and colleagues. Even though we get infuriated, we still love these people.