Symbolism

Now maybe George ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits, if he fin’s out you got killed.

Only Lennie was in the barn, and Lennie sat in the hay beside a packing case under a manger in the end of the barn that had not been filled with hay. Lennie sat in the hay and looked at a little dead puppy that lay in front of him.

I like to pet nice things. Once at a fair I seen some of them long–hair rabbits. An’ they was nice, you bet. Sometimes I’ve even pet mice, but not when I could get nothing better.

And Lennie said softly to the puppy, "Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard."

George came quietly out of the brush and the rabbit scuttled back into Lennie’s brain.