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From Of Mice and Men’s very first page, main characters George and Lennie are toast. They’re toast because they’re poor. They’re toast because they’re simple. George and Lennie are also toast because that’s the way author John Steinbeck thinks America works—dooming ordinary people to failure before the first chapter of their lives has been told. Maybe that’s why John Steinbeck tells Of Mice and Men’s basic story in its very first chapter.

Video Transcription:

Here’s a hint: If you want to know what happens in Of Mice and Men all you need to read is … the first chapter.

Here’s what happens in Chapter One.

We meet migrant workers George and Lennie. We learn of Lennie’s fascination with small, soft things. We learn that Lennie is mentally disabled and doesn’t know his own strength. We discover that these three things—Lennie’s disability, his superhuman strength, and his love for soft things—often get him into trouble, like they did at the last ranch where he and George worked.

Finally, we learn that George and Lennie have a dream of buying a little piece of land where they can have a farm of their own.

Now, I’m not telling you to just read Chapter One and then skip the rest of this book. If you did, you’d never get to meet the other characters who help flesh out George and Lennie’s story.

But—and here’s what makes John Steinbeck such a great writer—everything you need to know about what’s going to happen in the rest of the story, everything you need to know about George and Lennie, even everything you need to know about Steinbeck’s themes …

Yep. Chapter One’s got it. That’s called foreshadowing—and really good plotting.