Of Mice And Men Chapter 2 Summary | Junior Cycle English

Of Mice and Men Chapter 2 Summary: Where we are

English Hub Plus

Junior Cycle English, sorted.

English Hub Plus has sample answers, quizzes and vocab tools across the whole Junior Cycle course. Try it free for 48 hours, then €4.99 a month.

Start your free trialEvery note on this site stays free.

The next morning, inside the bunkhouse on the ranch. George and Lennie arrive late and meet almost everyone they will deal with for the rest of the book. This chapter is Steinbeck lining up his cast, and every introduction carries a warning.

What happens

An old swamper named Candy shows them the bunkhouse. He has lost a hand in a ranch accident. He points with a wrist that ends in nothing. His old sheepdog lies at his feet, grey-muzzled and half blind.

George finds an insect powder tin by his bunk and is immediately suspicious. Candy explains the last man was simply a clean person. It is a small moment, but it tells you George expects the worst from any place he arrives.

The boss comes in and questions them. He wants to know why George speaks for Lennie and takes his pay packet. George says Lennie is his cousin and was kicked in the head by a horse as a child. The lie holds, but the boss stays suspicious.

Curley arrives, the boss’s son. He is small, quick and hostile. He sizes Lennie up at once and speaks to him aggressively. Lennie says nothing and looks at the floor. After Curley leaves, Candy explains that Curley is a former boxer who picks fights with big men because he is small.

Candy also mentions that Curley has married recently. He describes Curley wearing a glove full of vaseline on one hand, kept soft for his wife. He tells George what the men on the ranch think of her, and it is not kind.

Curley’s wife appears in the doorway looking for her husband. She is heavily made up, in a red dress, and she stands in a way that blocks the light. She leaves when Slim tells her Curley has gone to the house.

Slim comes in last. He is the jerkline skinner, the most skilled man on the ranch, and everyone defers to him. He notices immediately that George and Lennie travel together, and says so. Carlson then complains about the smell of Candy’s old dog and suggests Slim’s new puppies as a replacement.

One key quote

“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”
Slim, after remarking that hardly any workers travel around together.

Slim says this quietly, almost in passing, and it is the largest idea in the chapter. George’s speech in Chapter 1 said ranch workers are the loneliest men in the world. Slim widens it to everybody, everywhere.

It matters that this comes from Slim. Steinbeck has just told us that Slim’s word is taken on any subject, and that all talk stops when he speaks. When the most respected man on the ranch says people are frightened of each other, the novel expects you to believe him.

What this chapter is doing

Every character here is introduced through a weakness or a threat. Candy is introduced by the hand he no longer has. Curley is introduced by his temper. Curley’s wife is introduced by what the men say about her before she says anything herself. Crooks is mentioned as the black stable buck who lives apart.

The old dog is the most important thing in the chapter and it does nothing at all. Steinbeck describes it as dragfooted, grey around the muzzle, with pale blind eyes. Candy later describes himself in almost exactly those terms. Carlson has already suggested getting rid of it.

Watch how Curley’s wife is handled. Candy calls her a name before she appears. George calls her poison after she leaves. The reader is given the men’s verdict on her long before she is given a chance to speak. That is deliberate, and Chapter 5 will make you re-read it.

Themes that show up

Power and usefulness. Candy’s value dropped when he lost his hand. His dog’s value dropped when it got old. The ranch measures people by what their bodies can still do.
Loneliness. Slim is surprised that two men travel together. Being alone is the normal condition here.
How men talk about women. Curley’s wife is judged on sight and discussed behind her back. Notice that even George joins in.
Insecurity as aggression. Candy explains Curley’s behaviour before Curley has done anything. He hates big men because he is small.

Common questions that come up

For a question on first impressions of a character, this chapter gives you four to choose from. Pick one and be specific. The vaseline glove for Curley. The missing hand for Candy. The red fingernails for Curley’s wife. The silence when Slim speaks.

A question on a character you disliked works well with Curley. Do not just call him nasty. Explain that his aggression comes from being small among big men, and that Candy says so out loud before we see it.

If a question asks about a place or setting in your studied text, the bunkhouse is a strong answer. It is where men keep everything they own in an apple box nailed to the wall. That single detail says more about migrant life than a paragraph of explanation.

A question on tension can use Curley’s first meeting with Lennie. Nothing happens, and that is why it works. Steinbeck sets up the fight three chapters before it arrives.

Common mistake

Most students write about Curley’s wife in this chapter as a troublemaker, because that is how the men describe her. That is the trap. Steinbeck gives you the men’s opinion first on purpose, so that you accept it. He then spends Chapters 4 and 5 dismantling it. If your answer repeats the bunkhouse verdict without questioning it, you have agreed with characters the novel is criticising.

Quick recall

1. Who shows George and Lennie the bunkhouse?

Candy, the old swamper. He lost his right hand in a ranch accident and now does cleaning work. His old sheepdog follows him everywhere.

2. What lie does George tell the boss?

That Lennie is his cousin, and that he was kicked in the head by a horse as a child. George tells it to explain why he speaks for Lennie and handles his pay.

3. Why is the boss suspicious of George?

Because George does all the talking and takes Lennie’s pay. The boss assumes George is stealing from a man who cannot look after himself.

4. Who is Curley and why is he hostile to Lennie?

He is the boss’s son and a former boxer. Candy explains that Curley is a small man who picks fights with big men, because he hates the comparison.

5. What is the glove Curley wears?

A glove full of vaseline on his left hand. Candy says Curley keeps that hand soft for his wife. The men repeat it as a joke behind his back.

6. How is Curley’s wife introduced?

First by Candy’s description of her, which is insulting. Then in person, standing in the bunkhouse doorway in a red dress with heavily made-up eyes and red fingernails, looking for Curley.

7. Who is Slim and why does he matter?

The jerkline skinner, the most skilled worker on the ranch. Steinbeck calls him the prince of the ranch. His authority comes from skill, not ownership, and the men treat his opinion as final.

8. What does Slim notice about George and Lennie?

That they travel together, which he says is unusual. The friendship is strange enough on this ranch that it needs explaining.

9. What does Carlson suggest about Candy’s dog?

That it should be shot, because it is old and it smells. He points out that Slim’s dog has just had puppies and Candy could have one instead.

10. Why does the description of Candy’s dog matter later?

Because Candy later describes his own future in almost the same words. The dog is old, useless to itself and about to be disposed of. Candy fears exactly that for himself.

← Chapter 1 summary | Chapter 3 summary →