A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in
close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The
water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the
yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow
pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes
curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on
the valley side the water is lined with trees—willows fresh
and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf
junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores
with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that
arch over the pool. On the sandy bank under the trees the
leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great
skittering if he runs among them. Rabbits come out of the
brush to sit on the sand in the evening, and the damp flats
are covered with the night tracks of ’coons, and with the
spread pads of dogs from the ranches, and with the split-
wedge tracks of deer that come to drink in the dark.
Which of the following concepts are included in this section? Select one or more correct answer(s).
George stared morosely at the water. The rims of his eyes
were red with sun glare. He said angrily, “We could just as
well of rode clear to the ranch if that bastard bus driver
knew what he was talkin’ about. ‘Jes’ a little stretch down
the highway,’ he says. ‘Jes’ a little stretch.’ God damn near
four miles, that’s what it was! Didn’t wanta stop at the
ranch gate, that’s what. Too God damn lazy to pull up.
Wonder he isn’t too damn good to stop in Soledad at all.
Kicks us out and says, ‘Jes’ a little stretch down the road.’ I
bet it was more than four miles. Damn hot day.”
Based on this section, the word "morosely" most likely means...
“That ranch we’re goin’ to is right down there about a
quarter mile. We’re gonna go in an’ see the boss. Now, look
—I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a
word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing."
Which character says this line?
Explain how you know the answer above in one sentence.
“If you don’t want me, you only jus’ got to say so, and I’ll go off in those hills right there—right up in those hills and live by
myself. An’ I won’t get no mice stole from me.”
Which character says this line?
Explain how you know the answer above in one sentence.
George’s voice became deeper. He repeated his words
rhythmically as though he had said them many times
before. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest
guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no
place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then
they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing
you know they’re pound-in’ their tail on some other ranch.
They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.”
Lennie was delighted. “That’s it—that’s it. Now tell how it is
with us.”
George went on. “With us it ain’t like that. We got a future.
We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We
don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’
because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets
in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”
Why is this story important to George and Lennie? Select one or more correct answer(s).