Section 5 Summary

On a Sunday afternoon, Lennie is sitting alone in the barn, holding the dead body of his puppy. He seems to have accidentally killed it, and keeps stroking it and asks why it had died; after all, it was not as small as a mouse. He is worried that George would find the dead body and get angry with him and starts piling hay on the puppy to cover it. He decides to tell George that he had found the puppy dead; however, he realizes that George would be able to figure through the lie. Frustrated, he throws the puppy across the barn. He promptly regrets it and brings it back, assuring himself that George perhaps wouldn’t be angry as the puppy meant nothing to him.

As Lennie keeps stroking the pup, Curley’s wife enters. Lennie hastily hides the dead pup and bluntly tells her that George has instructed him not to talk to her. Curley’s wife dismisses that and reassures him that it is safe for him to talk to her as the other men are occupied with a horseshoe tournament outside; they will not interrupt them. She sees the dead puppy and tries to console Lennie by telling him that there are other mutts in the barn, implying that this one is disposable. She starts complaining about her loneliness and how she is avoided by the other ranch hands. During the conversation, she reveals how she had other dreams about her life and how her mother had denied her the opportunity to join a traveling show when she was 15. Years later, a talent scout had spotted her and had promised to take her to Hollywood, but nothing materialized. When things didn’t go her way, she decided to marry Curley, a man she dislikes.

Lennie continues to talk about animals, prompting Curley’s wife to inquire why he likes them. He replies that he likes to touch soft things with his fingers. She says that she likes the same too and offers to let him stroke her hair, warning him though not to mess it up. Lennie becomes quickly excited and grabs her hair with force, which frightens hers. When she cries out, Lennie panics and holds his hand over her mouth to silence her. As she struggles against him, his grip tightens. He shakes her till her body goes limp—he has broken her neck.

When Lennie realizes what he has done, he tries to cover her body with hay, just as he did with the puppy. He is mainly concerned that George will be angry with him. He picks up the dead pup and flees toward the meeting place that George had earlier decided on in the book’s opening—the clearing in the woods. Candy comes looking for Lennie and finds the body of Curley’s wife. He calls George, who immediately understands what has transpired. He tries to be optimistic, hoping that perhaps Lennie will just be locked up and be treated fine. Candy, however, warns him that Curley is sure to have Lennie lynched. He asks whether George and he can still buy the farm. George mourns the fact that it is not possible anymore; he has known all along that it would never materialize, but because Lennie was so enamored of the idea, he had started to believe in it himself.

George is anxious that the other men will assume that he had something to do with the death of Curley’s wife. He now tells Candy how to inform them—he will pretend that he hasn’t seen the body and will act surprised when Candy brings the news. George leaves. Candy curses Curley’s wife as their dream of owning the farm is now destroyed. He leaves to alert the rest of the ranch. The men gather. George arrives last with his coat buttoned up. Curley demands that the men all rally around and try and find Lennie to kill him. When Carlson goes to find his gun, he finds it missing. He reports that it is stolen, suspecting that Lennie must have stolen it. Curley orders for Crooks’ shotgun to be fetched. The mob sets off after Lennie.

Section 5 Analysis

This section opens abruptly with Lennie stroking a dead puppy, setting off the tone of imminent doom. It is reminiscent of the opening section when he was fondling a dead mouse. The dead puppy asserts the latent and unwitting danger that Lennie poses. With the arrival of Curley’s wife, the reader is aware that the worst will now come to pass.

The most significant aspect of this section is the final conversation that Curley’s wife has with Lennie. So far, she was a sexual tease, provoking the men, and trying to create discord wherever she went. However, in the final moments before her death, Steinbeck presents a sympathetic portrayal of the only female character in the book. Her loneliness and unhappy marriage are a personal confession that finally substantiate her actions so far. She too once had a romantic notion of her life—of being a movie star—not unlike George’s fantasy of owning a farm. Like Crooks, she figures out that as Lennie mostly doesn’t understand what is being said to him, she can say almost anything to him, thereby laying her emotions bare. Unfortunately, she fails to detect the danger lurking in Lennie and in an attempt to comfort him, allows him to stroke her hair which bears fatal results. Disturbingly though, it is only when she is dead, she seems to have achieved a redemptive note as Steinbeck describes that all the marks of her unhappiness have finally left her dead face and she now looks “pretty and simple … sweet and young.” The novel has spent considerable portions insinuating how women are troublesome, and this description seems to imply that only in death can a woman be truly beautiful, her innocence restored, and can no more cause trouble for men.

As Lennie flees the barn, the narrative focuses on George. He finally realizes that his dream wouldn’t have ever materialized; it was all too unrealistic. He also has to come to terms with what his next step should be. As earlier, Slim is the voice of reason in this section too, pointing out to George that the best option for Lennie now is for him to be killed. There are two options ahead of George—either he lets Curley and his men lynch Lennie, allowing him to die a painful death, or he does the deed himself, putting Lennie out of his misery. Just like he has protected him all his life, he would need to kill him to protect him from a miserable and humiliating death. This scene echoes that of Candy’s dog earlier being put to death. When Candy still asks George about their farm, his reply is among the most insightful and realistic responses in the novella. There is no room for dreaming in such a difficult and inhospitable world.