"An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie cried out. Lennie and George's whole dream in the novel "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck was to live on a great piece of land. The land would have furry rabbits, beautiful gardens, deer frolicking through the woods, and all the nice things in life. Lennie reaches that dream at the end of the book but George does not. Also, everyone in the novel shared the characteristic of all having a dream. For example, Crooks' dream was to have a family, be free, and work on his own land. Everybody wanted to know what the problem was with Lennie. Was he a mean, stupid, and a tall buffoon or, was he a nice, mentally challenged, tall guy? He could be either in any one person's opinion but in George's mind he did not really ever figure out whether, he was a stupid guy or a nice gentleman. He always talked politely and respectfully but, sometimes said stuff he was not supposed to. For instance, at the very beginning of the novel they had to run away from a town because Lennie did something really dumb. Later, George tried to find them a new job at a ranch and he told Lennie not to say a word so they could get the job for sure. Of course, Lennie went in there and opened his mouth and almost caused them losing the job. Therefore, right at the beginning George had mixed feelings about Lennie. It even gets worse when they found out that the boss was strict and his son was one mean, horrible, short, boxing guy. Also, there were many conflicts in the book and Lennie stirred up most of them. Some were not as serious as others important as others but some stood out throughout the whole novel. One model of a conflict in the book was, Curly vs. Lennie. Curly hated tall people and always tried to start trouble and stir up almost everything. You will see that this conflict plays a huge role in the book. There were many differences between the movie and the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The book was a much better illustration of the tale of George and Lennie, than it was in the movie.
The storyline is about George and Lennie hiding from Weed because of a dumb act Lennie did. Lennie gets himself and George into trouble many times but, George can not completely blame a mentally challenged individual. In the book, George and Lennie start by sleeping in a forest trying to hide from the town of Weed and they are sleeping very close to where their next job would be at a ranch. In the film, George and Lennie start off by running away from Weed and they go to Aunt Clara's house. Therefore, the beginnings of the book and the movie are different. The problem is that in the novel, you are dumbfounded for a little while because you do not know why George and Lennie they are running away and from what. One later finds that out deep into the novel, they ran away from Weed because Lennie did something really dim-witted. He saw a lady with a nice red dress and without even thinking went to her and patted her dress vigorously. The woman screamed and screamed and screamed but Lennie did not stop until George hit him over the head with a fence pick. The people of Weed then ran after them and George for a long time until they got out of their sights. Unlike the book, in the movie, they went to Aunt Clara's house after they were being chased. George left Lennie but later decided to come back because he felt bad for him. Around the same time the people of Weed that were looking for George and Lennie made it to Aunt Clara's house looking for them. This is the 1st scene in the book where George and Lennie were lying in the forest hiding from the people of Weed. As the two men were chatting and eating beans Lennie lets out the quote, "An live off the fatta the lan!" The book and movie both show this part thoroughly but it was one of the few parts that were better illustrated in the movie because it gave you an idea for the understanding of what, "Live off the fatta the lan" means by the peaceful and tranquil setting of that scene. In the book you had to read back a few times trying to comprehend what it meant.
Curly's wife played a big role in the story, Of Mice and Men, and she messed almost everything up. The first time you meet Curly's Wife in the book, is when she went into the bunkhouse and tried to interact and talk with Lennie and George. In the movie she met them on the work field, while the two men were working for the first time. Curly is a mean husband, and very controlling of his wife; he never lets her go anywhere without his permission. In the movie, Curly's wife went to visit Slim to ask help with Curly but, Slim told her to go away. In the book, they never meet, they always avoid each other. Sometimes she went to places without telling Curly and he got very mad. They both treated each other very poorly. In a scene in the movie Curly and his wife were yelling at each other and Curly got out of control and kicked her off the ranch; this scene never occurred in the book. You can also see this kind of behavior again in the novel when, Curly's wife is controlling Crooks. For example, she called him bad names (nigger) and one notices that she is much meaner in the book than she is in the movie. Curly's Wife is more interesting in the novel because, she is both a victim and an abuser. She is more of a static character in the novel but in the movie she is nicer and more dynamic. She is more of a villain in the book and stirs things up countless amounts of times. Curly's wife plays a big role in the story, Of Mice and Men, and tries to get involved with everything.
Curly's face reddened, "I'm goin," he said. "I'm gonna shoot the guts out of that big bastard myself, even If I got one hand. I'm gonna get 'im." This is what Curly said when he found his wife dead and he wanted to kill Lennie more than ever. In the movie, Curly became very irate at his wife near the end and kicked her off the ranch. When she was about to leave the horrible place, she just hung out with Lennie for a while in the farmhouse while all the boys were having a horseshoe tournament. She and Lennie socialized for a while and he started stroking her dress that was made of silk and touched her hair. Again, this is flashback of what happened earlier in Weed. His strokes were too strong for her to bear and she started wailing. He covered her mouth so George would not hear her screams. He strangled her by accident and she died, but all that he could think about was that he would not be able to tend the rabbits. Curly got very mad after he saw what happened and all the boys ran out and looked for Lennie to kill him. In the novel, she never got kicked off the ranch and just went into the farmhouse while Lennie was petting his dead puppy. If George found out about the dead puppy he would go crazy so he told her not to tell George. He then touched her dress and her hair and the rest is similar to what happened at the end of the movie. Here again one sees Curly's wife's character less of a victim in the book because she does not get kicked off the ranch. One ponders if it is better in the book because Curly's husband put up with her in spite of the pain they caused each other. In the movie, while everyone else was looking for Lennie in the wrong places, Slim went with George to kill him personally.
In the story, Of Mice and Men, there are many differences between the book and the film. At the beginning of the book George and Lennie said they were going to live off the fatta the lan. This came true only for one character. That one character was Lennie because he got to go to heaven and live life after death. George was saying to Lennie that there was a place with no one to bother you, you could do whatever you wanted, you could tend the rabbits, and live life like it was the last day of school. He was reflecting heaven to Lennie and all that he said was absolutely true. He was fantasizing about living off the fatta the lan and it was only going to happen in heaven for Lennie because of all the dumb acts he performed on earth. One could figure out if Lennie was a tall, dumb, buffoon or if he was a mean, stupid, annoying person. He was a tall, dumb, buffoon for sure, and people just could not teach him the basics of life. There were many differences between Lennie's character in the movie and the book and there were thousands of other differences. The three most important differences were the beginning, Curly's wife, and the end of the book where George killed Lennie. Regular people could not really teach Lennie the basics of life and George was the only one to stay with him because he loved him and wanted he felt bad for him. In life people who have troubles should always surround themselves with many people to help and support them. One, who helps others, helps himself and helps a whole world.
