In chapter one of Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men George and Lennie camp in a spot between the Gabilan Mountains and Salinas River. They are on their way from northern California to work on a ranch near the small town of Soldedad.
George first becomes angry with Lennie over the dead mouse which Lennie has been keeping in his pocket. When George takes it away, Lennie goes after it again and this, along with Lennie's request for ketchup to put on his beans, sets George off. His anger boils over and he describes all the problems Lennie causes and his wish to be away from his friend and be able to do what he wants:
"God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cat house all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of. An’ I could do all that every damn month."
George's anger makes Lennie cry and the big man threatens to run away and live in a cave:
“Well, I could. I could go off in the hills there. Some place I’d find a cave.”...“I’d find things, George. I don’t need no nice food with ketchup. I’d lay out in the sun and nobody’d hurt me. An’ if I foun’ a mouse, I could keep it. Nobody’d take it away from me.”
Ultimately, George apologizes and once again tells Lennie about the dream of the "little piece of land" he one day hopes to acquire. Although George often becomes frustrated with his mentally challenged friend, he seems to have genuine affection for Lennie, and he commits a very unselfish act of love in the end by killing Lennie after the accidental death of Curley's wife.
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