Of Mice and Men Lesson Plan

In the opening of Part V, Lennie speaks aloud to the dead puppy in the barn. What does this demonstrate about Lennie and his inner psyche? What does this foreshadow?

In an unusual departure from the realistic starkness of the rest of the work, Lennie hallucinates in the final chapter, shortly before his death. These hallucinations are foreshadowed by his monologue directed at the dog. It seems that the threat of losing his dream to raise rabbits drives Lennie toward this level of self-delusion. In Part V, the "symptoms" are relatively mild--he is simply talking aloud to the dead dog.

In Part VI, however, the threat to his dream is much more significant;...