I Seen Hundreds of Men Come by on the Road an on the Ranches, with Their Bindles on Their

Angelica Antiporda English Summer Reading ‘05 Task B

“S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.”

This particular passage struck me because I felt Crooks’ loneliness. The fact hat he barely has anyone to share his dreams, to share his life, and to share his pain moves me in the deepest ways. Everyone has a choice to either be depressed or happy. One must work at making things better for them if they want happiness. In the end it will be you against your mind. Crooks choice to make the best out of everything instead of making himself miserable. I believe that out of everyone in the book he was the most content with his life. Everyone else in the book has more freedom than him therefore they have more control over their lives. Sure Crooks was sick and lonely but acceptance to your fate is the only way to gain contentment.

“That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an a cripple”

This quote was a very important insight to me. It somehow foretold Lennie’s death. Lennie wasn’t any good to himself and he was harmful to others as well causing a lot of distress to him and to those around him. That quote sort of referred to him as well.

George understood what that person meant by that comment and so he decided to make the choice and kill Lennie. It wasn’t because he wanted to kill him for his own personal motive, but he did it for Lennie himself. It was either Lennie suffering a painful inhumane death with no one cares about with him or a quick almost painless death with his friend. His life was precious since every life is, but his life would lead to more troubles.

“You… an me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. No more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ‘em”

This quote was heartbreaking for me because it made me realize that maybe killing Lennie was the best choice. It was about ‘heaven’ and where Lennie would go after his death. It gave me an easy feeling knowing that Lennie would finally find peace and happiness. This had a heavy impact on me because it justified George’s decision and it made me realize he wasn’t just doing it for everyone. He was also doing it for Lennie’s sake. You can’t always find peace in your life, but you can always find it in heaven.