Chapter 6 Notes

Prediction

When George found Lennie by the bush, I predicted that Lennie and George would run away together. I thought this because earlier in the book, when Lennie was accused of rape, George helped him and they ran away. I thought that George would do the same thing, but instead he ended Lennie's life.

Question

When Lennie started to picture the rabbit  I got confused. Why was he picturing the rabbit? Was it a symbol of guilt? Is Lennie losing his sanity? What point is Steinbeck trying to make by including the rabbit as a character?

Connection

When George shot Lennie, it reminded me of how Slim shot Candy's dog. Candy's dog was very sick, and was probably going to die soon. Shooting him would put him out of his misery. Like Slim, George shot Lennie to make someones life less painless.

Summary

The last chapter in Of Mice and Men  was a section full of unexpected twist and turns. It started with Lennie hiding by the bush, waiting for George to be his savior. When he is their, imaginary visions appear in his head of his Aunt, who is dead, and a big rabbit. These visions symbolize the guilt Lennie feels about killing Curley's wife and it also symbolizes his guilt for letting George down. George finally reaches the bush, to find Lennie. George does not scold him, nor does he yell, he just told him to look away from him and look at the ocean. George begins to tell Lennie the story about how they will live in the future, and how Lennie will get to tend the rabbits. George has a gun aimed at Lennie, and as Curley and the rest of the men start to appear, George kills Lennie to put him out of his misery.