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guide to of mice and men

Lennie!

- Disregarded (marginalized) character
- Suffers from a mental disability which renders his thought and
actions
- Steinbeck creates sympathy for lennie because despite his
disability he’s a loving and caring character
- Society singles him out and treats him as an outsider
- Steinbeck’s purpose of the novel is to expose society’s unfair
treatment of the weak who are undeservingly treated as
victims

Lennie is childlike
- comparing him to child who not aware of actions ‘blubbering
like a baby’ this simile suggests vulnerable like a child and
needs constant supervision from a parent and that’s who
George represents
- George plays a father like role + he’s a paternal figure
- George constantly says ‘good boy’ comparing a parent and
child and master to his dog praising him
- Other character all think of as a child they observe him as ‘your
like a big baby’ ‘hes just like a kid’ this shows his innocence
and how he cant be held responsible for his actions
- Childish his dream is about tending rabbits not real he believes
of the dif colours
- Like a story parents tell kids to help them sleep (when George
repeats lennies dreams)
- Walked in single fire- lennie follows less mature sees as leader
doesn’t get things in same way

Lennie is compared to animals – seen as animalistic
- ‘dragging his arms the way a bear drags his paws’ compares
him as a bear to show his strength, doesn’t mean to be this way
just his instinctive behavior
- hes paradoxical nature
...
This also implys how lonely he is
because he demands other people to stay away as he is scared
of how they will treat him
- at that time their were stereotypes of black people being
unintellectual and Steinbeck uses his character to defy these
stereotypes as they’re just as intelligent making the reader
sympathetic because hes presented as intellectual and aware
of his rights
- doesn’t have many belonging but he does own a ‘mauld copy of
the California code of 1905’ which shows that crooks was very
adement of reading his rights
- also owned a large pair of large brim spectacles and glasses
have connatations of a level of intelligence and knowledge
therefore illustrating crooks level of understanding
- crooks says to lennie ‘ you got no right to come in my room
nobody got any right in here but me’ this explicitly shows that
crooks is aware of his rights and uses them to assert his power
when possible & his defensiveness shows hes insecure of the
very few rights he has
- presented as defensive owns a single barreled shot gun the fact
he owns this amongst normal belongings shows he feel the
need to protect himself, the contrast between gun and other
belongings highlights his worried nature
- ‘crooks has his bunkhouse in the harness room’ which is where
horses harnesses are kept and horses restrain horses
representing him being trapped on the ranch
- crooks says ‘guys don’t come into a coloured mans room’
crooks has to sleep in a separate man, despite slavery been
abolished racism still exists
...
The fact hes
black means his chances are even slimmer for dream coming
true
- Crooks longs for the ranch of his childhood ‘my old man had a
chicken ranch… we used to play on it’ it is through crooks
Steinbeck demonstrates that the American dream is a myth
because the hierarchical structure of American society is too
rigid and does not allow movement between classes
- The weak are kept perpetually down trodden by the strong

Candy!

- Crucial character to display the attitudes to disabled people
and elderly in the 1930s
- Works as the ‘swamper’ leads respected job on the ranch
reflecting the view of disabled people in society, because of his
disability hes given a low status job
- candy has ‘a stick like rist but no hand’ due to this not seen as
beneficial or useful in society as not able to work and earn
money which was pivotal factor in life due to depression
- candy is aware because he tells George ‘I aint no good with only
one hand’ this demonstrated how harsh society was as he
considers himself less of a person because of his impairment
- says hes going to be ‘canned soon’ which highlights disposable
view of people in society and once became old and usless
thrown out
- in modern day society oldest people given most respect
ironically in mice and men they are given very low respect
- candys character used to display level of racism in the 1930s
because even candy seen as outcast in society refers to crooks
as ‘nigger’
- this casual racism highlight the height of verbal abuse in
society and exemplifies how it was part of every day life
- this phrase is not used to deliberately insult crooks which
further illustrates the normality of racism
- Steinbeck presents his character as the lonely life of a ranch
worker

- Candy is the only person their to greet both George and lennie
when they arrive on the church and he ‘warmed’ to their
‘gossip’ so this shows candy is keen to interact with others and
he likes to gossip about others as it stimulates him
- The word ‘warmed’ shows how candy found comfort in the
presence of others because of immense state of loneliness
- Candy immediately bestows trust upon charge asking him ‘you
wont tell curley nothing I said?’ the fact that he is so quick to
spread info about the bosses son to other people shows how
desperate he is for others to speak him and accept him, this is
because he feels isolated to society and the ranch and want to
share companionship with someone
- Candy wanted in on the dream (George and lennies) he saw as
ticket out of misery and degration on the ranch
- Being old and crickled meant his chanced of achieving his
dream were even slimmer than other men
- Candy dreamt of freedom and independence and also wanted a
purpose in life ‘I aint much good but I could cook and tend the
chickens’ through candy Steinbeck demonstrates the American
dream is a myth because the structure of society is rigid and
doesn’t allow movement between classes
- When his dog is killed hes lost his ownly companion therefore
even more lonely, his treatment of his dog mirrors treatment of
the elderely in society which shows how harsh and cruel
society were to elderly & if couldn’t look afterself better off
dead

Curleys wife!

- Only women on the ranch
- Represent women in 1930s America who were treated as
object rather than people
- Society at this time was ruled by men
- Women like curleys wife had very little authority and control
over their life
- Her death suggests ranch was no place for a women she was
not supported or protected by society

Her appearance
- ‘her lips were rouged… her finger nails were painted red…
...

Possibly insinuating that due to the prejudice and objectivity of
men in society, she was viewed as sexual
...
I never got that letter’ the
fact he never replied showed how people abused the idea of the
American dream by giving false hope to vulnerable people like
curleys wife


her death
- due to her desperation for companionship she turns to lennie
for attention ‘because she confided in him she moved closer to
him’ so her loneliness is directly responsible to her death as it
forced her to move closely to lennie
- she longs for someone to appreciate her in ways her husband
does not ‘feel right around her feel how soft it is’ (her hair) the
use of the word ‘feel’ shows how she thinks shes incontrol at
this point and she’s desperate for attention
- at her death a pigeon flew in and circled and flew out, the
pigion represents the freedom curleys wife never had w
- when candy finds her hes like ‘this is all your fault you lousy
tart’ showing she was blamed even after her death for things
she hasn’t done
- shes in a unhappy relationship with curley ‘ I don’t like curley
he aint a nice fella’ shows she doesn’t even like him nevermind
love him also she flirts with all the other men on the ranch
because her husband doesn’t give her enough attention
- ‘she got the eye going on all the time on everybody’
- need for attention, loneliess,dream
- most of men hate her although shes done nothing wrong just
because shes a women

slim!

- He is an excellent and respected worker
- ‘jerkline skinner’ very skillful job shows hes one of best
workers on the ranch
- hes described as the prince on the ranch which shows he has
authority and people look upto him
- fit and healthy so attracts attention from curleys wife
- only person she addresses by name and he calles her ‘good
looking’
- he is isn’t intimidate by curelys wife which also shows he isn’t
afraid of curley, also it shows the hierarchy in society as those
with better jobs seen as better
- seen as god like, valuable asset to ranch, respected, as more
useful as had skills to work
- ‘whos ear heard more than said to him’ shows he knows
everything represents his godlike features
- drowns thoughts of own dogs puppies when hes born and says
‘she couldn’t feed that many’ which shows how he was

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practical and wise, playing god by chosing who lives and who
doesn’t
he says to George at the end ‘ I guess we gotta get him’ shows
he understand George needed to kill lennie for his own good
and shows sympathetic for him needing to kill him
calls crooks by his name showing he treats him with more
respect than the other characters to do
he represents the conscious of the novel, strong sense of right
and wrong and men trust his judgment ( strong sense of
morality’ his word was taken on any subject understanding
beyond thought calm god like eyes
he understood how nature worked that people or animals who
are weak will stand in society alone
could have stopped candys dog from being killed by Carlson
but chose not to
Respected worker high status, hierarchical nature, likeable
Slim is content without a wife or family and much possessions
which shows how people adapted to this pessimistic society, he
didn’t even want a dream he was so used to his life being this
way


Curley!
- A violent character, used to be a boxer ‘curleys pretty handy
hes done quite bit in the ring’ he uses his violence as a way of
asserting authority
- ‘his hands turned (into fists) at the site of George and lennie’
this shows how he automatically revert to violence when he
feels threatned/uncomfortable
- ‘curley lashed his body now’ the violent weren’t ‘lashed’
shows the intensity of his assertive nature
- has higher authority ‘ glove on his left hand’
- he wore ’ a glove full of vaseline’ this shows how he viewed his
wife as an object and it was him outwardly displaying he has a
wife and no one else on the ranch did
- he wore ‘high heeled boots’ like the boss, gave him extra hight
as he was (little) also to shows hes in charge and not a laboring
man
- insecure character ‘ you seen a girl around here’ because
always worried about where his wife is
- coward, picks fight on lennie who is the easiest target
- he craves attention and respect because the other workers
don’t like him

- hes in an unhappy marriage ‘ I don’t like curley he aint nice
fella’ shows even though he was a wife and high status he still
isn’t happy I life showing society was so pessimistic was hard
to be happy, shoes how broken and fake their marriage is
- used to portray the corrupt nature of society because he will
never be ‘canned’ his dad is the leader of the ranch
- fact he once to kill lennie after death shows didn’t really care
about her just angry lennie has taken away his possession
- little man syndrome doesn’t like big guys
- shows hedonistic society/sexism
- workers refer to curley as a ‘son of a bitch’ because they don’t
like ‘mean little guys’ shows although surrounded by people
still very lonely
- Steinbeck intends for curley to be shown as lonely to show
how even with materialistic objects such as money and
beautiful wife; society still highly pessimistic morning
constantly lonely
- Portray corrupt nature of society
- High level of authority just because dad is boss alothough he
practically does nothing compared to crooks who stable buck
and works very hard, shows injustice of society in 1930s
America
- Curley looks ‘threateningly’ around to the bunkhouse
whenever he enters, this is to show the others workers he has
power over them



















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