I had read this book earlier in my life, possibly in high school. I remember it made an impression on me then because, naive as I was, I did not see the end coming. This time, I knew how it would end, making this reading far more poignant.
The ending, of course, is foreshadowed many times in the book. When Carlson takes Candy's old dog out and shoots him, we have a picture of what will happen to Lenny. Lenny's indiscretion in the previous town foreshadows his troubles on the ranch. The dead mouse in his pocket, and the dead puppy, foreshadow the dead girl. His strength when he defends himself against Curley foreshadow his lack of restraint when he tries to quiet the struggling girl.
You see it coming, but somehow, you have to read on.
Other than the inevitable and tragic major plot arc, I do love the descriptive talent of John Steinbeck. When he set a scene, he does so not with a forensic description of what's there, but a spare, poetic observation. The pivotal scene in the barn hay loft, for example, is set in a quiet place of dozing contentment.
"It was Saturday afternoon. The resting horses nibbled the remaining wisps of hay, and they stamped their feet and they bit the wood of the mangers and rattled the halter chains. The afternoon sun sliced in through the cracks of the barn walls and lay in bright lines on the hay. There was the buzz of flies in the air, the lazy afternoon humming."
I can almost smell it.
I hadn't understood the first time around that Lenny and George hadn't really believed they would save up their money and buy a piece of land. I had thought it was a plan they were working toward. When Candy said he would throw in with them, the dream that had seemed so far off now seems real. This book is about hope and the fragile nature of dreams as much as anything else.
I'm pondering the fact that Curley's wife doesn't have a name.
Some of the symbolism is interesting to me, like Steinbeck's descriptions of the barn where Crooks lives. He mentions several times the sound of the horses' halter chains rattling. This may be a way of signifying the bondage of the characters with few or no options of changing their situation, their lives, or their future.
Steinbeck draws the reader in with a gentle touch, yet one that does not shrink from wickedness, fear, or dread. How can one love a book that ends this way?
Yet I do.
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