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This article will give a chapter-by-chapter summary of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. (In reality, OMAM doesn’t have numbered chapters, so I have opted to call them “scenes.”) Even if you haven’t read the novel, you’ve probably seen references to the characters and plot of OMAM (both and have done parodies.) [Spoiler alert: George shoots Lennie in the back of the head.] 

However, what’s missed in the frequent parodies is how touching the text is. As migrant farm workers during the Great Depression, George and Lennie barely manage to eke out a desperate existence. They understand that the odds are against them, but they keep dreaming about eventually getting a farm of their own. Their story is the story of two lonely people ground down by forces beyond their control.

Check out our Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions and 7 Best Quotes from Of Mice of Men.

While there are some PDFs of the text online, I’m using the Penguin Modern Classics version. 

Of Mice and Men Chapter Summaries

Scene One

Scene one opens on a riverbank on the Salinas River, “a few miles south of Soledad.” Into this pastoral, idyllic place trudge the text’s protagonists, George and Lennie. They could not appear more different. While George is a small man with “restless eyes and sharp, strong features,” Lennie is “a huge man, shapeless of face …with wide, sloping shoulders” (2). 

As Lennie and George begin to set up camp, we find out a bit about what has brought them here. George reminds Lennie that they’re here to get work on a farm. He stops when he realizes that Lennie has a dead mouse in his pocket (Lennie likes to pet it while they walk). Frustrated, George takes the mouse from Lennie and throws it across the pool. 

Of Mice and Men Summary – Chapter Summaries (Continued)

The mouse disposed of, George tells Lennie to not say anything when they go and talk to the boss. Apparently, Lennie and George have just been run out of Weed, California. (Lennie’s desire to pet soft things extends to women’s dresses, which the women do not appreciate.)

The two men relax and then George sends Lennie to gather firewood. When Lennie comes back, George can tell that he’s splashed across the pool to retrieve his mouse. George takes it again and tosses it as far as he can into the brush. Lennie starts to cry – we hear about how Lennie’s Aunt Clara used to give him mice but he always ended up killing them. 

Once Lennie gathers some firewood, the two heat up some cans of beans. Lennie asks George to tell him “about the rabbits.” George tells him a story about how one day they’ll have a house of their own where Lennie will be able to have (and pet) rabbits. The chapter ends ominously – George tells Lennie that if he gets into any trouble (like in Weed), to come to this place and hide. 

Scene Two 

George and Lenny reach the farm around ten the next morning. They meet Candy, the man who cleans the bunkhouse. He tells them that the boss is mad that they didn’t arrive the previous night. As if on cue, the boss arrives and asks them why they were late. George lies and tells him the bus driver let them off at the wrong stop. The boss asks them some questions and gets suspicious when George answers for Lennie. After making some excuses for Lennie’s silence, George manages to reassure the boss, who leaves. 

Candy comes back into the bunkhouse with an old dog. As Candy chats with George, a short, angry man named Curley comes in. Curley immediately confronts George and Lennie. He leaves only when Lennie finally says something. When Curley leaves, Candy tells George that Curley is the boss’ son and has always been angry on account of his size. He adds that Curley’s been grumpier since he got married a few weeks previously. (Supposedly, Curley wears a glove on his left hand – slathered in Vaseline – to keep that hand soft for his wife.) Ever the gossip, Candy says that Curley’s wife flirts with the farm hands. When Candy leaves, George warns Lennie to stay away from Curley. After Lennie agrees, George reminds to go to the river and hide in the brush if he gets into any trouble. 

Of Mice and Men Summary – Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Just as they finish talking, Curley’s wife steps into the doorway of the bunkhouse and asks where Curley is. Lennie immediately takes an interest in her. When George tells her they haven’t seen Curley, she leaves, flirting with one of the other farm hands (Slim) as she walks back to the house. Once she’s gone, George warns Lennie against having anything to do with her. 

Slim enters the bunkhouse and greets George and Lennie. Though he wonders why George and Lennie travel together, he doesn’t pry. Another farm hand, Carlson, comes in and asks Slim whether his dog has had her puppies. Slim says she has (he immediately drowned the four smallest.) When Carlson and Slim go up to the house for dinner, Lennie can’t contain his excitement about the puppies. Suddenly, Curley comes back, looking for his wife. When Curley leaves, George and Lennie go to dinner. 

Scene Three 

The day’s work done, Slim and George sit in the bunkhouse and talk. George tells Slim how he and Lennie met and how he used to play cruel jokes on him. He confesses to Slim that he once told Lennie to jump in a river. Lennie jumped in and nearly drowned. Since then, George has tried to take care of Lennie the best he can. He also tells Slim about how Lennie got into trouble in Weed. Apparently, Lennie grabbed a woman’s dress, who then screamed. Lennie was so scared he wouldn’t let go – George had to hit him in the head with a piece of fencing. When the woman went to the police and claimed she was raped, George and Lennie hid in an irrigation ditch for an entire day and then fled. 

Lennie comes in and goes directly to his bed. George tells Lennie he can’t bring the puppies into the bunkhouse. Though Lennie’s disappointed, he takes the puppies back down to the barn. When Carlson comes in, he complains that Candy’s dog stinks and tries to convince Candy to shoot the dog. Slim tells Candy that he can have one of his new puppies. The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Whit, who talks excitedly about a magazine he’s reading. When Whit returns to his bunk, Carlson volunteers to shoot Candy’s dog. As no one speaks up, Candy acquiesce and Carlson takes the dog out to be shot. 

Of Mice and Men Book Summary – Chapter Summaries (Continued)

The men wait for the sound of the gunshot anxiously. When it’s done, Slim goes down to the barn while Whit and George play cards. Whit talks about Curley’s wife and mentions that many of the hands go to a whorehouse called Susy’s. Curley comes in looking for his wife. Suspicious, he asks where Slim is and then heads down to the barn. (Curley suspects that Slim is sleeping with his wife.) Thinking that Slim and Curley are going to fight, all the hands go down to the barn except George, Lennie, and Candy. 

Lennie asks George to tell him about the place they’re going to buy. As George describes it, Candy is listening. When George is done, Candy asks if he could go in on the place with them. (He lost his hand on the ranch and knows his job prospects are nil.) When he mentions that he has three hundred dollars saved up, George realizes that they could buy the place within a month. 

Of Mice and Men Summary – Chapter Summaries (Continued)

Slim comes back from the barn with Curley and Carlson right behind him. It’s clear that Curley has accused Slim of messing around with his wife. Though Curley is apologizing to Slim, the latter is dismissive. Sensing weakness, Carlson and Candy start mocking Curley too. Enraged, Curley turns on Lennie, who doesn’t defend himself. George yells at Lennie to “get him,” at which point Lennie grabs Curley’s hand and crushes it. 

Seeing Curley’s crushed hand, Slim tells Carlson to get a wagon ready to take Curley to the doctor. George is afraid that he and Lennie will be fired, but Slim talks to Curley, who agrees to tell everyone that he got his hand caught in a machine. 

Scene Four 

In scene four we meet Crooks, the black man who takes care of the stables. Some time (days? weeks?) have passed since Lennie crushed Curley’s hand. All the hands have gone to town except Candy and Lennie. Lennie wanders down to Crooks’ room to pet the puppies. At first, Crooks is cruel to Lennie, asking him what would happen if George didn’t come back. When Lennie starts to get agitated, Crooks relents and tells him to sit down. 

Candy comes down to Crooks’ room to talk to Lennie about the rabbits. The three are joined by Curley’s wife, who is desperately lonely. When she tries to get the men to tell her who crushed Curley’s hand, Candy tells her that Curley got his hand caught in a machine. Curley’s wife notices the bruises on Lennie’s face and puts two and two together. When Crooks asks her to leave, Curley’s wife tells him that she could get him lynched “so easy it ain’t even funny” (91). Candy and Lennie go back to the bunkhouse and Crooks rubs his aching back. 

Scene Five

The next day is Sunday and the farm hands are playing a horseshoe tournament. Lennie is in the barn, petting a puppy that he’s accidentally killed. As upset as he is about the puppy, he’s more worried about what George is going to say when he finds out that he’s killed another animal. When Curley’s wife walks in, Lennie freezes and tells her he’s not supposed to talk to her. 

It’s clear that Curley’s wife is horribly lonely. She starts talking to Lennie, even though it’s clear that he doesn’t really understand what she’s saying. Curley’s wife talks about growing up in Salinas and how she could have been in “pitchers.” She confesses that she doesn’t like Curley and wants something more than a lonely life on a farm. 

Of Mice and Men Book Summary – Chapter Summaries (Continued)

As he tends to do, Lennie keeps bringing the conversation back to rabbits. When Curley’s wife asks why he likes rabbits so much, Lennie tells her he likes to pet soft things. Hearing this, Curley’s wife offers to let Lennie stroke her hair. At first it goes fine, but when Lennie strokes a bit too hard, Curley’s wife yells. This scares Lenny, who then grabs her hair. Understandably, Curley’s wife yells louder, at which point, Lenny puts his hand over her mouth and shakes her, breaking her neck. Lennie covers her body with hay and goes to the river to hide in the brush and wait for George. 

Candy wanders into the barn and discovers the body. He calls George, who instantly understands what has happened. George returns to the horseshoe game and Candy runs out and pretends to have just found the body. The rest of the farm hands come running. They all agree that Lennie will have to be killed. Carlson goes to get his gun but finds it missing (George has taken it.) They all leave to find Lennie. 

Scene Six 

Lennie has followed George’s instructions and is hiding in the brush at the river. While he waits, he sees visions of his Aunt Clara, who berates him for his stupidity. He also hallucinates a giant rabbit, who tells him that George is going to beat him when he finds out Lennie killed Curley’s wife. 

Lennie is still talking to himself when George walks up. In the distance, the voices of the other farm hands can be heard. George tries to be calm. He tells Lennie to look out over the river and imagine the farm they are going to buy. As George tells the story of the farm, he takes out Carlson’s gun and shoots Lennie in the back of the head.

When the rest of the men arrive, Slim helps George up and reassures him. He says, “You hadda, George,” and walks him up the path. 

Of Mice and Men Book Summary – Wrapping Up 

Though the constant parody makes it easy to lose sight of the poignancy of Steinbeck’s novel, I found it impossible not to empathize with these two lonely men. ( talks about how to recover the text from parody.) The cruelty of the world is on full display in Of Mice and Men, and there might not be anything to save George and Lennie (and us) but our dreams of solidarity and friendship. 

If you’ve found this article useful or interesting, you can also check out my summaries and analyses of 1984, Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, The Crucible, Beloved, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Macbeth, and Jane Eyre.