 Clearing where they wander-evokes Eden in its serenity and beauty  Opens with Idyllic scene-creates a background for the idealized friendship between the men  Introduces the romanticized dream they share of farm life  Opening pages-establishes sense of purity & perfection which the world, with its cruelty, will be unable to sustain.

 Establishes relationship between George and Lennie  Uneducated laborers  But emotionally rich  Lennie-sweet, innocent, has a mental disability, undying devotion to George, habit of petting soft things  George-rants about how life would be easier without Lennie, but his speeches always end by revealing his love for and desire to protect his friend.  They symbolize the downtrodden in the society of the depression

 George-constantly tells of the farm they will one day own  This piece of land represents a world in which the two men can live together just as they are, without dangers and whithout apologies  No longer will they be run our of towns, or subject to demeaning work  As novel progresses, their situation worsens  George and Lennie’s desire to attain the farm grows desperate  Vision-so powerful it will eventually attract other men  George’s story of the farm and the mutual devotion between George and Lennie lay the groundwork for one of the novel’s themes-the idealized sense of friendship among men

 True to the nature of a tragedy, the vision of the farm is so beautiful and the bond so strong, that the fall will be that much more devastating  From the beginning, the fall is foreshadowed  The clearing where they stumble may resemble Eden, but danger lurks at every turn  The rabbits that sit “Like gray sculptured stones,” hurry for cover at the sound of footsteps, hinting at the predatory world.  The dead mouse in Lennie’s pocket serves as a potent symbol of the end that awaits weak, unsuspecting creatures.  Despite Lennie’s great physical features, his childlike mental capabilities render him as helpless as a mouse.

 Repeated comparison between Lennie and animals (bears, horses, terriers) reinforces he impending sense of doom.  Animals in the novel all die untimeley deaths.  The novel’s tragic course of actions seems even more inevitable when one consideres Lennie’s troublesome behavior that got George and Lennie chased out of Weed.  Anticipates that problems will arise wherever they go.