Of Mice and Men Quotes
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Source: Of Mice and Men
Author: John Steinbeck
"I can still tend the rabbits, George? I didn't mean no harm, George."
"I didn't want no trouble," he said. He walked toward the door, but just before he came to it, he turned back.
"George?"
"What you want?"
"I can still tend the rabbits, George?"
"Sure. You ain't done nothing wrong."
"I di'n't mean no harm, George."
"Well, get the hell out and wash your face."
Context
Sounds harmless, right? Which is kind of the point.
In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Lennie's a pretty harmless guy (except for when he's not), and George, his buddy, does a pretty good job of keeping him that way (except when he doesn't).
Which bring us to this scene.
All the men of the farm are hanging out in the bunkhouse after Candy's dog has been shot. Curley comes in, and he's bothered by how his wife is always hanging around Slim...although we're thinking his anger may be a bit misplaced.
At any rate, Curley gets increasingly angry at everyone but isn't really brave enough to do anything about it besides yell threats; that is, until he sees Lennie smiling blankly off into space. Unfortunately, Curley picks the wrong fight and his hand ends up looking like a Jell-O-filled water-balloon that was used as a cutting board.
But hey, at least his other hand is still nice and smooth for his wife.
Don't mess with Lennie.
Where you've heard it
Sounds like something you might hear from a kid, right?
Yep, this quote shows how truly innocent Lennie is.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
Nothing Lennie says could ever be pretentious.