Of Mice and Men - Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

Today's Lesson

You read Chapter 6 of Of Mice and Men

Today you will check your knowledge

Tell me about Chapter 6

Lennie has visions while he waits for George (Aunt Clara and the Giant Rabbit)
What is the significance (meaning) of this?

What is the significance of Lennie’s two visions (Aunt Clara and the Giant Rabbit, both of whom speak in Lennie’s own voice)? 

Lennie’s visions show how he (subconsciously) feels about the whole situation, 

they say what he is afraid of – he feels he’s disappointed George (who deserves better than him) and that George is going to abandon him. 

(Aunt Clara) "You never give a thought to George," she went on in Lennie's voice. "He been doin' nice things for you alla time. When he got a piece of pie you always got half or more'n half. An' if they was any ketchup, why he'd give it all to you."

(Giant Rabbit) But the rabbit repeated softly over and over, "He gonna leave you, ya crazy bastard. He gonna leave ya all alone. He gonna leave ya, crazy bastard."

The story of the farm and Lennie and George’s dream is repeated once again. What point do you think he is making about the American Dream?

The story of the farm and Lennie and George’s dream is repeated once again. What point do you think he is making about the American Dream?

The story of the farm is often told to comfort Lennie when he is feeling scared. 

It is meant to give him hope, and that is why George tells him the story before he shoots him. 

"Look acrost the river, Lennie, an' I'll tell you so you can almost see it." In the end the dream is a fantasy, meant for comforting and hope – it doesn’t come true. 

Explain how the following aspects of the novel have foreshadowed the final tragedy of Lennie’s death:
The discussion of Lennie and George’s ‘contingency plan’ in Chapter 1.

They discussed what should happen if something were to go wrong – already letting the reader know that something would go wrong and that a contingency plan was needed. If it wasn’t needed, it wouldn’t have been mentioned. 

Explain how the following aspects of the novel have foreshadowed the final tragedy of
Lennie’s death: The incident between Lennie and the girl in the red dress.

This incident showed that Lennie has had to run before, because he could not control himself. Causing other people to go after him to punish him. The only difference with the end of the story is that the girl in the red dress did not die. 

What drove George to believe he had to kill Lennie?

What drove George to believe he had to kill Lennie?

He knows that the other men are close and on their way to kill Lennie and he feels it is his duty to make it as painless as possible – because they care about each other. 

"An' I got you. We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot in hell about us," Lennie cried in triumph.” 

This way he can at least make sure that Lennie isn’t scared, but happy. 

Do you think George did the right thing? Why/Why not?

Considering what happens to Lennie, what do you think Steinbeck is saying about how society relates to outsiders?

Considering what happens to Lennie, what do you think Steinbeck is saying about how society relates to outsiders? 

What happened to Lennie shows that it is dangerous to be an outsider. 

People are more likely to jump to conclusions and the outsider is left vulnerable. 

George hardly has to lie about what happened, because Carlson has already drawn his own conclusions about what’s happened.

"Did he have my gun?"

"Yeah. He had your gun."

"An' you got it away from him and you took it an' you killed him?"

"Yeah. Tha's how." George's voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held the gun.

Evaluation

You now know more about:

- The situation surrounding Lennie's death

- George's reasoning for killing Lennie

- Something that was foreshadowed in the book several times