Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Short summary

5 seconds

George and his strong but feeble-minded cousin Lennie are hired on a farm. The owner’s son teases them, and Lennie breaks his arm. Later, he accidentally kills his wife. George kills Lennie to keep him from being lynched.

1 minute

George and his cousin Lenny are looking for work. Lenny is mentally retarded but unusually strong. Lenny likes to pet everything small and furry, but he doesn’t count on his strength. The mice die from his caresses.

Lennie likes to listen to George’s dreams about getting rich, buying a ranch, and raising rabbits.

The cousins are hired to harvest barley. The owner’s son, Curley, a former boxer, comes to the barracks and causes a fight. His wife is notorious for promiscuity. George joins a collective of farmhands, and Lennie befriends a black stable boy and fiddles with puppies.

Curley beats the unresponsive Lennie, and one day George lets him fight back. The strongman breaks Curley’s arm. He tries to hide the corpse of the puppy he petted to death.

Curley’s wife enters the stable and lets Lennie stroke her hair. He can’t stop. The woman screams, the strongman covers her mouth with his palm and inadvertently breaks her neck.

George steals a revolver and, after telling Lennie one last time about the ranch and the rabbits, shoots him in the back of the head.