Steinbeck describes the bunkhouse in the first paragraph of chapter two in his novella Of Mice and Men. It is typical of housing for farm laborers with eight bunks, a "black cast-iron stove," a table "littered with playing cards," boxes for the players and several other things such as personal hygiene items, combs, neckties, medicines and "those Western magazines ranch men love to read and scoff at and secretly believe." The bunkhouse table was in the center of the room and would have been where the men played cards. Other than solitaire, which George is repeatedly playing in chapters two and three, the men played euchre, a game which sometimes utilizes twenty-four cards from a standard deck (six cards from each suit). The perpetual playing of cards in these chapters tends to support Steinbeck's theme of luck and fate. Just as cards can sometimes be unlucky, so too his life. Unfortunately for George and Lennie, the ranch proves to be an unlucky place and events which take place there mark the end of the dream of owning their own farm.
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