●● What is each character like?
●● What does each character want?
●● What are the relationships between characters?
●● How does Steinbeck reveal the characters to us?
●● What evidence can we find to help us assess each character?
Lennie is, in a sense, the central character, although you could argue that
it is his relationship with George that Steinbeck focuses on. The events of
the novel revolve around Lennie and he is the main tragic figure, despite
the fact that Curley’s wife also dies, and at his hands. However, Lennie’s
lack of intelligence and initiative make him an unlikely tragic hero.
MGM/The Kobal Collection
Lennie Small is big and strong, but has well below average intelligence
(1992 film adaptation)
Lennie’s relationship with George
We learn that Lennie has attached himself to George after Lennie’s Aunt
Clara died. He is big and strong, but of well below average intelligence.
He trusts George completely — a fact made painfully obvious to George
24 PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR GCSE
when, as he relates to Slim, he once told Lennie to jump into a river for a Pause for thought
joke. Lennie nearly drowned.
Lennie is happy to follow George’s lead in everything. We see this For Lennie’s death
to be seen as tragic,
immediately by the way he still walks behind George, even in the open,
we need to identify
almost knocking George over when he stops suddenly. Lennie is anxious
with him. Do you feel
to please George and trusts in his ability to do what is best for them both. Steinbeck makes it
He hates it when George is angry with him, as occurs in Section 1 when possible for you to
George bitterly complains about Lennie’s behaviour getting them into identify with Lennie
trouble in Weed. Lennie does not need to say he is upset. George has only — despite his lack of
to look at Lennie’s ‘anguished face’ to know. Lennie tries to appease intelligence — and
George by creeping close to him and telling him that if they had any therefore to feel
sympathy for him? If so,
ketchup he would let George have it all. It is his way of trying to make a
what factors help
personal sacrifice for George’s sake.
you to do this?
A ‘nice fella’
Other characters in the novel comment on Lennie’s good nature. Slim says
of him: ‘He’s a nice fella. Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems
to me sometimes it jus’ works the other way around’ (A66, P44). Curley’s
Slim (speaking of
wife, too, tells Lennie: ‘You’re nuts. But you’re a kinda nice fella. Jus’ like
Lennie): ‘He’s a nice
a big baby’ (A126, P98). Even the cynical and isolated Crooks is won over fella.’ (A66, P44)
by ‘Lennie’s disarming smile’ (A101, P76). In fact, the only person on the
Curley’s wife (to
ranch who dislikes Lennie is Curley, and that is because Curley resents Lennie): ‘You’re nuts.
‘big guys’ because he is small and has an inferiority complex. Despite this, But you’re a kinda
Lennie has no desire to hurt Curley when Curley attacks him in Section 3. nice fella. Jus’ like
a big baby.’ (A126,
He is frightened and pleads with George to make Curley stop. The only
reason he grabs hold of Curley’s hand and crushes it is because George
tells him to ‘get ’im’.
Lennie, despite being trusting and unintelligent, can be surprisingly
sneaky at times — though with little success because George knows him
so well. The first time we see this is in Section 1, when Lennie retrieves
the dead mouse that George has thrown away: ‘What mouse, George?
I ain’t got no mouse’ (A26, P9). Even when George threatens to ‘sock’ him,
Lennie keeps up the pretence for a moment longer before pleading to be
allowed to keep it.
Lennie behaves in a similar way when he tries to smuggle his puppy
into the bunk house, and when he later tries to conceal the fact that he
has killed the puppy.
Another aspect of Lennie’s character that seems to contradict the image
of him as the trusting fool is that he has an animal instinct for danger.
OF MICE & MEN
Grade booster As early as Section 2, he suddenly bursts out with ‘I don’ like this place,
George. This ain’t no good place. I wanna get outta here’ (A55, P36).
Steinbeck often The ‘dream farm’
Lennie, more than anyone in the novel, believes in the dream of owning
as an animal,
especially a bear, land and being self-sufficient. He is especially excited about being allowed
which he resembles to tend the rabbits and feed them alfalfa. It is a sad moment when, near
in size, strength and the end of the novel, he has a hallucination in which a giant rabbit tells
movements. He drags him he is not fit to tend rabbits. However, this moment gives way to his
his feet like a bear. He final vision of the dream farm, which allows him to die happy.
is described as having
‘paws’ rather than George Milton
hands. Even the way
Other characters are puzzled by George’s travelling with Lennie, whose
he drinks at the pool
is like an animal that unintelligence makes him poor company and a dangerous liability. The
simply follows its boss suspiciously demands of George ‘Say — what you sellin’? I said what
nature. stake you got in this guy? You takin’ his pay away from him?’ (A43, P24).
Slim is more open-minded but still comments, ‘Funny how you an’ him
string along together’ (A65, P43). Even George seems puzzled at times
about why he stays with Lennie.
George is intelligent
The fact that George stays with Lennie says a great deal about George’s
George (to Lennie):
‘When I think of the
character. George is, after all, an intelligent man. He has enough vision to
swell time I could dream of an ideal future for himself and Lennie. He has practical foresight,
have without you, I telling Lennie to come and hide by the pool if he ever gets into trouble,
go nuts. I never get and spotting immediately that Curley and his wife could cause trouble. He
no peace.’ (A30, P13)
also shows quick-wittedness. For example, when he learns that Lennie has
killed Curley’s wife, he realises that people might think he had something
to do with it. He therefore asks Candy to let him go to the bunk house
while Candy breaks the news, so that the men will assume George was
in the bunk house all the time. But this also gives him a chance to steal
Carlson’s gun. Even at such a difficult time he is already planning ahead
to the moment when he will have to shoot Lennie.
George is modest
George is modest about himself. When Slim calls him ‘a smart little guy’,
he replies that if he were clever he would not be doing a poorly paid
manual job on a ranch: ‘buckin barley for my fifty and found [fifty dollars
a week, plus board and lodging]’ (A65, P43). The real reasons for George
doing this kind of work are more complicated. Although Steinbeck tells
us nothing about George’s background, there is nothing to make us think
26 PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR GCSE
that he has had the advantages of family, wealth or education. It would
be difficult for George to pursue a career, or even hold down a job in one
place for long, while he is committed to looking after Lennie.
George is careful and clean-living
It is part of George’s character to be careful. This shows
Pause for thought
in a number of ways. In Section 1, he tries to prevent
Lennie from drinking ‘scummy’ water that might be What do you think is George’s attitude
dirty and make Lennie ill (A20, P3). He is angry when towards sex? When Candy tells him that
he thinks that the previous occupant of his bunk may Curley keeps his glove full of vaseline to
have had lice (A39, P20). He is cautious when it comes keep his hand soft for fondling his wife,
he seems quietly disgusted: ‘That’s a dirty
to telling others about the dream he shares with Lennie.
thing to tell around’ (A49, P30). He also
When Candy overhears George and Lennie discussing it has no time for Curley’s wife herself, saying
and asks if they know where to buy a farm, George is as little as possible to her. He has no
‘on guard immediately’ and will not tell him where the interest in visiting prostitutes with the other
farm is. He gradually opens up, but still watches Candy men. On the other hand, he says that if he
‘suspiciously’ (A86, P64). did not have to look after Lennie, he could
George is also careful with money. When Whit ‘maybe have a girl’ (A24, P7). Is George
invites him to visit the brothel in Soledad, he responds morally upright or rather puritanical?
cautiously: ‘Might go in and look the joint over’ (A79,
P57). A little later, he explains that he and Lennie are ‘rollin’ up a stake’
(saving money to buy their farm). He adds that he ‘might go in an’ set and
have a shot [sit and drink a glass of whisky]’ (A80, P58) but he will not
pay two and a half dollars for a prostitute.
Although the action of the novel is spread over only a few days, Steinbeck
reveals that George has the capacity for moral growth. George confides Grade booster
in Slim that he used to enjoy feeling clever compared with Lennie, and he
used to have fun at Lennie’s expense until Lennie’s near-drowning made
him stop. This suggests that George has the humility to see when he has us for George’s mercy
done wrong and is prepared to change. The compassion he has learned killing of Lennie by
to feel for Lennie is part of why he stays with him. Candy’s comment in
Section 3: ‘I ought to of
Why George stays with Lennie shot that dog myself,
George complains that he could have an easy time without Lennie. George. I shouldn’t
ought to of let no
However, you might ask yourself if he stays with Lennie purely out of a
stranger shoot my dog’
sense of moral duty. Although he says that Lennie is ‘dumb as hell’ (A65, (A89, P67). George
P43), he is proud of Lennie’s ability to work hard and take orders: ‘Jus’ does not let a stranger
tell Lennie what to do an’ he’ll do it if it don’t take no figuring’ (A64–65, shoot Lennie.
P42–43). He also points out to people that Lennie is neither ‘crazy’ nor
OF MICE & MEN
MGM/The Kobal Collection
‘mean’. When George tells Lennie about
their dream, an important part of it is that
they are not like other migrant workers,
Pause for thought because they have each other — they are
Perhaps Lennie’s George reveals most about his reasons
for staying with Lennie in his conversation
George’s life a purpose.
with Slim at the start of Section 3. George
Do you think he would
have found meaning in explains ‘I ain’t got no people’ — he has
his life without Lennie? no family (A67, P45). He says that men
What do you imagine who travel alone ‘don’t have no fun’ and
he will do after eventually ‘get mean’. Note how this
Lennie’s death? contrasts with George’s complaints to
Lennie about what a ‘swell time’ he could
Despite George’s occasional
have without Lennie. He tells Slim, ‘you complaints, it seems that his
get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ relationship with Lennie is
Key quotation mutually rewarding
you can’t get rid of him’ (A67, P45).
George, on his On the whole, it seems that, despite George’s occasional complaints, his
relationship with relationship with Lennie is mutually rewarding: they both benefit from it. It
Lennie: ‘We kinda
is enormously difficult for George when, at the end of the novel, he has to
look after each
other.’ (A57, P38) shoot Lennie rather than let him be caught and either lynched or put into
an asylum. This is his ultimate act of taking responsibility for his friend.
Candy is an elderly man who has a permanent job on the ranch as a
swamper — keeping the bunkhouse clean. He is introduced as ‘a tall,
stoop-shouldered old man’ (A38, P19). His stooping body language
suggests hopelessness as well as age. He has lost his hand in an accident
on the ranch, which is why his job is permanent. This, together with the
fact that Candy received some compensation, shows that Steinbeck is
being fair to ranch owners, not just portraying them as selfish exploiters.
However, the fact that Candy lost his hand at all suggests that health and
safety standards were poor.
Candy is, on the whole, good-natured. He speaks well of Crooks and
of the boss, revealing that the boss treated his workers to a keg of whisky
at Christmas. He calls Crooks a ‘nice fella’ (A41, P22) and the boss a ‘pretty
nice fella’ (A41, P22). He shows some ability as a judge of character in his
comments on Curley, observing that Curley picks fights with ‘big guys’
because he resents the fact that they’re bigger than him (A48, P29). He also
shows a sense of injustice when he says that when Curley beats a ‘big guy’,
‘Ever’body says what a game guy Curley is’ (A48, P29) and when he loses,
28 PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR GCSE
people say that the ‘big guy’ should pick on someone his own size. Grade booster
Candy is also a gossip. For example, he tells George about Curley
keeping one hand ‘soft for his wife’ (A49, P30). Candy’s gossipy nature,
though believable, is
One important detail to remember about Candy is that he has a smelly
also a narrative device
old dog. Candy proudly recalls what a good sheepdog he was. However,
by which Steinbeck
both Candy and the dog are now old and not much use to anyone. The can quickly reveal
insensitive Carlson badgers Candy to shoot the dog, and Candy eventually information about the
gives in and lets Carlson do it. characters — especially
important in a stage
MGM/The Kobal Collection
version of the novel.
Thus Candy is like the
‘Chorus’ in ancient
Greek plays, and in
plays, such as
Pause for thought
We last see Candy
lying down in the hay,
covering his face with
Lennie, George and Candy his arm in despair at
Despite his age and infirmity, Candy is still able to have hopes. When the end of Section 5. Is
your sympathy for him
he overhears George and Lennie discussing their ‘dream farm’, Candy
lessened by his lack of
jumps on this idea as his salvation. When Curley’s wife dies, and he
sympathy for Curley’s
reluctantly accepts that this means the end of the dream, he is bitterly wife?
disappointed. She is the one character for whom he has shown dislike,
calling her ‘a tart’ (A50, P31). When she is dead, he feels only anger
towards her: ‘gradually his sorrow and his anger grew into words. “You
God damn tramp,” he said viciously’ (A132, P104).
The boss is ‘a little stocky man’ who wears jeans like a working man but
also ‘high-heeled boots and spurs to prove he was not a laboring man’
(A41, P22). Steinbeck spends relatively little time on him, and never names
him. Yet the boss is in one sense an important character, in that he owns
and runs the ranch, hires and fires workers, and determines their pay and
conditions. He also has importance in a dramatic sense in that he allows
his son Curley to behave as he does, even though it interferes with the
smooth running of the ranch.
OF MICE & MEN
Pause for thought The boss is not portrayed as particularly harsh or exploitative. In
fact, he is better than some. He gives his men whisky to get drunk
Do you see the boss as on at Christmas. He is said to take his anger out on Crooks, the black
a sufficiently realistic
stable buck, at times, but at least he keeps him on at the ranch. He also
character? Do you feel
continues to employ Candy, who is old and not much use as a worker. It is
that he has individuality,
or does Steinbeck just presumably the boss who has paid Candy a sum of money in compensa-
present him as a typical tion for losing his hand.
employer? The boss suspects George of exploiting Lennie, but this suggests that
he has a sense of justice.
Curley, the boss’s son, has little to recommend him. He is aggressive and
yet cowardly — Carlson calls him ‘yella as a frog belly’ (A90, P68) —
Don’t be afraid to mean-minded, vengeful and jealous. The best we can say about him is
criticise Steinbeck. that he might have been a nicer man had he been a bigger one: he has an
For example, you
inferiority complex because of his size.
could argue that
He makes the most of being the boss’s son, ordering George and Lennie
Curley is not a fully
rounded, believable around. However, he is cowed by Slim’s status and afraid of Carlson,
character. Do you which is why he picks on Lennie, who he thinks will be an easy target.
think it is a weakness When Lennie crushes Curley’s hand, Curley could have Lennie ‘canned’
in Steinbeck’s (fired). However, Slim knows Curley well enough to prevent this, telling
characterisation that Curley, ‘I think you got your han’ caught in a machine’ (A92, P70). If Curley
Curley has no good tells anyone it was Lennie, Slim will make sure that Curley becomes a
Candy says that Curley keeps one hand in a glove full of vaseline in
order to keep it soft for his wife. If this is true, it suggests that Curley likes
to think of himself as a good lover. However, he does not seem to be
loving towards his wife. They have been married for only a short time,
yet he leaves her alone on the ranch on a Saturday night to visit a brothel
with the ranch hands. He is jealously suspicious that she might take an
interest in other men. When she dies, his reaction is not grief at losing her
but anger and a desire for revenge: ‘He worked himself into a fury. “I’m
gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch
myself”’ (A133, P105). He seems to see his wife as a possession that has
been stolen from him.
The first thing you may notice about Curley’s wife is that she is never
called anything else. Unlike the other main characters, she is never given
30 PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR GCSE
a proper name. There is some room for your personal interpretation here. Grade booster
However, Steinbeck probably wants to show that the ranch hands never
see her as a real person with an identity of her own. Rather, they see her Be aware that, in his
portrayal of Curley’s
as something belonging to Curley. This is partly because they do not want
wife, Steinbeck may
to risk their jobs by being friendly to her and upsetting Curley.
be making a point
Ironically, we never actually see Curley and his wife together except about men in American
when she is dead. They make occasional appearances looking for each society not regarding
other, but they never find each other. Curley’s jealous suspicion makes him women as
look for her, and she probably looks for him out of boredom. This is one individuals.
of the things that makes her a somewhat pathetic figure.
If you answer an exam question about Curley’s wife, you should think
about how Steinbeck wants us to see her. To what extent should we
believe in what other characters say about her? Before we meet her in
person, we hear about her from Candy. He tells George that he has
seen her ‘give Slim the eye’ (look lustfully at him), and that she is ‘a tart’
(A49–50, P30–31). Grade booster
When we meet Curley’s wife in person, Steinbeck reinforces the Note cultural context.
negative image created by Candy. It seems a bad sign that her first Candy’s view of Curley’s
appearance blocks out the light: ‘the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway wife may reflect
was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in’ (A53, P34). Her physical the sexual double
appearance also reinforces Candy’s view: ‘She had full, rouged lips and standards of American
wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair society in the 1930s: it
is all right for the men
hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages.’ Even her ‘nasal, brittle’ voice
to visit a brothel, but if
makes her seem unpleasant. Her body language seems sexually provoca-
a bored and unhappy
tive: ‘She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door young woman looks
frame so that her body was thrown forward.’ However, Lennie’s gaze with any interest at
makes her feel uncomfortable, so any sexuality in her body language may another man, she
be unconscious. is ‘a tart’.
George condemns her as soon as she leaves the bunk house: ‘Jesus,
what a tramp’ (A54, P35). Whit appreciates her looks: ‘Well, ain’t she a
looloo?’ (A78, P56) but still criticises her for not hiding her sexuality (‘She
ain’t concealin’ nothing’) and for looking at the men (‘She got the eye Pause for thought
goin’ all the time on everybody’). The only person who is pleasant to her
Do you think
is Slim, and even he focuses on her looks: ‘Hi, Good-lookin’’ (A54, P35).
The worst of Curley’s wife of Curley’s wife is
sexist, or is he just
We see the worst of Curley’s wife when she is bored and lonely on a commenting on the
Saturday night and visits Crooks’s room. As usual, she says she’s looking sexism of the
for Curley, and as usual she is ‘heavily made up’ (A109, P84). At first, she period?
OF MICE & MEN
smiles at the men — Crooks, Lennie and Candy — but when she fails to
get a friendly response she comments, ‘They left all the weak ones here.’
Then she comments, perceptively, that when the men are together they are
afraid to be friendly to her, each worried that the other will ‘get something’
on him (have something to threaten him with — telling Curley).
We see the misery of her marriage when she complains bitterly about
Key quotation Curley, who only seems interested in what he is going to do to all the
‘I could get you people he dislikes. She is pleased that his hand has been crushed, and she
strung up on a tree admires Lennie for doing it. However, she is unsympathetic to the three
so easy it ain’t even men, clearly using them only to relieve her boredom. She ‘contemptuously’
calls them ‘a bunch of bindle stiffs [homeless men carrying all their posses-
sions in a bundle] — a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep’
(A111, P86). But she is also
indignant that they refuse to
MGM/The Kobal Collection
tell her what really happened
to Curley’s hand.
Although it is easy to feel
some sympathy with Curley’s
wife in this scene, it becomes
harder when she threatens
to get Crooks lynched. She is
voicing the racism of the time,
but she is also asserting herself
over the one person who is
clearly below her in the ranch
pecking order, and whom she
can therefore threaten without
fear of consequences, giving
When Curley’s wife makes the mistake of letting Lennie stroke her herself some slight sense of
hair, it is probably out of a mixture of sympathy and vanity
power and status.
The best of Curley’s wife
Grade booster Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife is at its most sympathetic just before
she dies, in the scene in the barn with Lennie. We see that her dreams are
Don’t fall into the trap
of dismissing Curley’s even more hopeless than those of George and Lennie. As she hinted in the
wife in the way that the earlier scene in Crooks’s room, she has dreams of becoming famous. First,
ranch hands do. It is she was prevented by her mother from joining a travelling show. Then
important to be aware she met a man who promised to put her ‘in the movies’ in Hollywood
of her social context as (A124, P96). Pathetically, she believes her mother must have stolen the
a lone woman in 1930s man’s letter, since he promised to write. This is why she has settled for
32 PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR GCSE
The disappointment that Curley’s wife confides in Lennie, and the slight
sympathy she shows him, makes it easier for us to sympathise with her.
She tells Lennie: ‘You’re nuts. But you’re a kinda nice fella. Jus’ like a big
baby. But a person can see kinda what you mean’ (A126, P98). When she
makes the fatal mistake of letting him stroke her hair, it is probably out of
a mixture of sympathy and vanity.
Curley’s wife: ‘I coulda made somethin’ of myself…Maybe I will yet.’
Slim plays an important role on the ranch and in the novel. He is a mule
skinner — someone who drives the mules that pull carts, ploughs and
other machinery on the ranch. Steinbeck presents him as evidence that
noble qualities can be found in the humble working man. Whereas Curley
has no virtues, Slim has no faults.
Slim is first shown combing his ‘long, black, damp [just washed] hair straight
back’ (A55, P36), showing that he is clean and well groomed. Steinbeck’s
description of him is almost too full of praise: ‘he moved with a majesty only
achieved by royalty and master craftsmen…the prince of the ranch…capable
of killing a fly on the wheeler’s butt with a bull whip without touching the
Slim has a natural authority and an ‘understanding beyond thought’. His
hands are ‘as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer’ (A56, P37).
This is a surprising simile (an image comparing two things), given that Slim
is a ranch worker. It helps to create a certain air of mystery about him, like
his lean and ruggedly handsome (‘hatchet’) face that disguises his age: ‘He
might have been thirty-five or fifty.’
Above all, Slim is to be respected. When he speaks, a hush falls on the room. Pause for thought
Even when he stands up, he does so ‘slowly and with dignity’ (A58, P39).
What is your view of
Slim? Is he too good
Slim shows tact and understanding when he speaks to George, and he
to be true? Would he
somehow draws George out of himself without pressing him, so that
have more depth as a
George confides in him. He is similarly quick to understand and character if Steinbeck
sympathise at the end of the novel, when George has to shoot Lennie. had given him a
Steinbeck describes Slim as looking ‘kindly’ and speaking ‘gently’ (A56, few faults?
P37). He is generous too, giving Lennie one of his pups and telling George
‘No need to thank me about that’ (A64, P42).
OF MICE & MEN
Despite being gentle and sensitive, Slim is also tough. When Curley
annoys him by repeatedly asking about his wife, Slim is described as
Slim (on Lennie): ‘scowling’, and he speaks angrily to Curley despite Curley being the boss’s
‘He’s a nice fella…
son: ‘If you can’t look after your own God damn wife, what you expect
Guy don’t need no
sense to be a nice me to do about it? You lay offa me’ (A89–90, P67–68). When Curley attacks
fella. Seems to me Lennie, Slim is about to go to Lennie’s defence until George stops him.
sometimes it jus’ After the attack, it is Slim who makes sure that Lennie will not get into
works the other way
trouble for crushing Curley’s hand. It is also Slim who makes the important
around.’ (A66, P44)
point that you don’t have to be intelligent to be a ‘nice fella’.
Crooks is the stable buck — he looks after the horses and mules. He is
introduced when Candy mentions to George that the boss takes his anger
out on Crooks because he is black, explaining: ‘Ya see the stable buck’s a
nigger’ (A40, P21). In the routinely racist world of California in the 1930s,
this passes for an explanation. For the men on the ranch, Crooks’s colour
is his defining feature. However, Candy does add that Crooks is a ‘nice
fella’ and that he ‘got a crooked back where a horse kicked him’ (A41, P22).
We also learn that he has a talent for the game of ‘horseshoes’, which the
men play as a pastime.
Crooks is the focus of the fourth section in the novel. Steinbeck
Pause for thought devotes one of his scene-setting section openings to Crooks’s
Candy says that Crooks ‘don’t room. In the process, he tells us a lot about Crooks and his life.
give a damn’ when the boss ‘gives He has a room of his own because he is a relatively permanent
him hell’ (A41, P22). Do you skilled worker on the ranch, and because, being black, he is not
think Candy is right? Has Crooks allowed in the bunk house. Having his own room means he can
learned to become thick-skinned
have his possessions spread about it. Most of them relate to his
or does he hide his feelings to
work, such as a harness and leather-working tools. He does have
avoid worse treatment?
a few personal possessions, although some of these also appear
to be work-related: ‘several pairs of shoes, a pair of rubber boots,
a big alarm clock and a single-barreled shotgun’ (A98, P73). His books and
magazines, however, have nothing to do with work. They mark him out
as an intelligent and literate man. His copy of the ‘California civil code’
suggests that he has an interest in justice even if he is unlikely to get it. His
‘few dirty books’ (A99, P74) are an interesting detail. It is unclear whether
they are pornographic or just grubby.
Crooks keeps his room neat and clean, ‘for Crooks was a proud,
aloof man’ (A99, P74). Steinbeck also tells us ‘He kept his distance and
demanded that other people keep theirs.’ Crooks seems proud that he is
not ‘a southern negro’ with a recent family history of slavery (A102, P77).
His distance from others is accentuated by the fact that he is in pain much
34 PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR GCSE
of the time because of his spinal injury.
His first words in the section, to Lennie, support what Steinbeck has Key quotation
already told us about him: ‘You got no right to come in my room’ Crooks on the human
(A99–100, P74–75). He scowls at Lennie, but after a while he is softened need for company:
by Lennie’s smile. He even seems to enjoy Lennie’s company: ‘A guy can ‘It’s just the talking.
talk to you an’ be sure you won’t go blabbin’’ (A102–03, P77–78). He It’s just bein’ with
another guy. That’s
reveals that he is desperately lonely.
all.’ (A103, P78)
Despite apparently appreciating Lennie’s company, Crooks torments
him by suggesting that George might not return from town. He tells Lennie
that he would be taken to ‘the booby hatch’ (an insane asylum) and tied Grade booster
up like a dog (A104, P79). He enjoys exercising this small degree of power Although there is still
over Lennie and picturing him in a more powerless situation than his own. racial prejudice in
Life has taught Crooks to be cynical and pessimistic. Hence he is at first our society, no one is
scathingly dismissive when Lennie and Candy talk about the farm they in Crooks’s position,
are going to buy with George. However, it is as if he has to be like this to having to ‘reduce
avoid the risk of raising his own hopes: himself to nothing’ to
avoid being lynched.
Crooks interrupted brutally. ‘You guys is just kiddin’ yourself. You’ll talk
Try to imagine what this
about it a hell of a lot, but you won’t get no land…I seen too many guys with
land in their head. They never get none under their hand.’ (A108, P83) would be like.
Surprisingly, after this outburst Crooks allows himself to become
hopeful. He hesitates, then offers to come and work on the farm ‘for
nothing — just his keep’ (A109, P84). This moment of hope is immediately
soured by the appearance of Curley’s wife in the doorway. None of the
men wants her in the room, but when Crooks asserts his right to privacy,
she threatens him. His reaction to this is dramatic (imagine how it might
appear on stage):
Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew
into himself…Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against
the wall. ‘Yes, ma’am.’…Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was
no personality, no ego — nothing to arouse either like or dislike. (A113–14,
He is a proud man, but his survival instinct makes him become almost
invisible. He puts on ‘layers of protection’ (A115, P90). When Curley’s wife
goes, we see that Crooks’s hope has evaporated. He tells Candy ‘You guys
comin’ in an’ settin’ made me forget. What she says is true.’ The reminder
of his lack of rights returns him to his lack of hope, although he is too
proud to admit the truth: ‘I didn’ mean it. Jus’ foolin’. I wouldn’ want to go
no place like that’ (A116, P91).
Carlson is described on his first entry as ‘a powerful, big-stomached man’
(A57, P38). He is fairly friendly but not very bright, as we see when he
OF MICE & MEN
makes the obvious joke about Lennie (whose surname is Small), ‘He ain’t
very small,’ chuckling at his own joke and repeating it.
Carlson’s main role in the novel is to badger Candy into allowing his
old dog to be shot. Carlson does this himself. He is insensitive to Candy’s
feelings about the dog, being mostly concerned about its smell. However,
to be fair to Carlson, he does suggest to Slim that he should give Candy
one of his puppies, and he does argue that it would be a kindness to
Grade booster shoot the old dog.
We also see Carlson as a tough man who is not afraid of Curley. He
Carlson is given a calls him a ‘God damn punk…yella as a frog belly’ and threatens to kick
realistic mixture of
his head off (A90, P68). However, we see his unintelligence and insensi-
good and bad features.
tivity again at the end of the novel. He wrongly assumes that it is Lennie
How do you think this
compares with the who has taken his Luger pistol. After George has shot Lennie, Carlson
portrayals of Slim and ends the book with the uncomprehending question, ‘Now what the hell
Curley? ya suppose is eatin’ [bothering] them two guys?’ (A149, P118). He fails to
understand that George, and even Slim, could be upset by Lennie’s death.
How will you be assessed on character-based questions?
In this range of grades, candidates’ answers are likely to deal with the
characters as if they were real people, with little awareness of their fictional
nature. There might be detailed accounts of the ranch hands’ actions, and
comments about them being lonely or aggressive. At this level candidates tend
not to discuss the dramatic roles of the characters.
The better candidates in this range will support comments with references to
In this grade range examiners will expect to see that you know about the
behaviour of the characters, but also that you realise that aspects of human
nature can be seen in them. The best candidates will be equally able to discuss
the characters as psychologically realistic creations and as representing
elements of human nature, and to comment on how they reflect American
culture in the 1930s.
Use Table 1 to give yourself a clearer idea of what makes the difference
between types of responses.
36 PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR GCSE
Character Grade G–D Grade C–A*
George A clever little man who looks Embodies the ideal of the noble
after Lennie even though this working man, self-sacrificing
means he can’t do what he and honest, co-dependent with
Lennie A big, strong, stupid man who Represents animal nature
likes soft things and gets into (described as animal); has an
trouble a lot. instinctual awareness.
Crooks Black cripple who likes to keep ‘Proud and aloof man’ who would
himself to himself. like to have human contact but
would rather reject it than be
Curley’s wife Vain, empty-headed woman who Lonely, naive and disappointed
likes to flirt with the ranch hands woman; represents the situation
and threatens Crooks with of poor, uneducated women in
lynching. 1930s America.
Review your learning
(Answers are given on p. 82.)
1 What incident made George stop playing jokes on Lennie?
2 Who do the following phrases describe?
a ‘full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes’
b ‘a tall, stoop-shouldered old man’
c ‘His hatchet face was ageless.’
3 Who makes the following statements and to whom? What in your
opinion does each statement reveal about the speaker?
a ‘I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.’
b ‘Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella.’
c ‘Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.’
More interactive questions and answers online.
OF MICE & MEN