The character lennie was a great character because it combined the feeling and the careness of a mentally challenged man to the world around him. ... But after they come to work on a ranch in the Salinas Valley their hopes, like "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men," begin to go awry. ...

• Word Count: 333
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

A man will have only one question left at the end of is life: was it good or was it evil? ... Two years later, one of his more successful and popular books, Of Mice and Men, was written. ... He said that writers should show people's faults and failures so that they can improve themselves, but at the same time they should "declare and celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit." ...

• Word Count: 1364
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School