Notesale: Turn your study into money

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Character Profiles
Lennie
*Mentally disabled – The mind of a child
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His main goal in life is to end up tending rabbits
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*As well as his evident stupidity, he also shows the ability to manipulate George
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No social skills, often gets into trouble
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Key Quotes
Lennie looked sadly up at him
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‘ I’d pet ‘em, and pretty
soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and they was dead
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’ – page 31
‘Well, he said if I done any more bad things he ain’t gonna let me tend the rabbits
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*Very much ‘one of the boys’ when social interaction requires it, but is a lonely solitary character a
lot of the time
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* A hard worker
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*Kills Lennie
Key Quotes
‘God, you’re a lot of trouble,’ said George
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’ – page 24
George’s hand remained outstretched imperiously
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– page 26
George got up and went over to Lennie’s bunk and sat down on it
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‘I seen plenty of ‘em
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’ –
page 51
They all sat still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing, each mind was popped into the future when
this lovely thing should come about
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He pulled the trigger
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– page 147
Candy
*The Old Man
*Loved his dog who was his best friend
*His word means little on the farm – no one listens to him, even over serious matters
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*Only time he is valued in the book is when he presents George and Lennie with money
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*Also has dream of having a place he can retire to, but due to his disability he appears never to have
been able to raise a large amount of money
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The reason for this is never
explained
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Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses they’ll put me on the
county
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I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog
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He is white, no one knows his age, he is
reasonably powerful but not too big, works reasonably hard, and is generally a nice guy
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Slim is no an outsider
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*Makes the final decision to kill Candy’s dog
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Key Quotes
When he had finished combing his hair he moved into the room, and he moved with a majesty only
achieved by royalty and master craftsmen – page 55
‘He ain’t mean,’ said Slim
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’ – page 68
Candy looked helplessly at him, for Slim’s opinions were law
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*Oppresses the black character Crooks in a physical form
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Key Quote
He sure burned when you wasn’t here this morning
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’ – page 40
Curley
*The boss’ son
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*Automatically dislikes Lennie due to his sheer size and strength and sees it as his duty to attack him
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There appears to be no love in their
relationship and his desire for her is purely sexual
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*Attacks a helpless Lennie without provocation, emphasising the horrible ‘dog eat dog’/’survival of
the fittest’ attitude which was sweeping the world at the time
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Key Quotes
‘Well Curley’s pretty handy,’ the swamper said sceptically
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Get up on your feet
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’ – page 90

‘I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself’ - 133

Curley’s Wife
*Aside from ‘Aunt Clara’ who appears in a vision near the end of the book, Curley’s wife is the only
woman in the play
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Interestingly, the only other woman mentioned in the book is the woman who runs the
local ‘cat house’ who is also called Clara
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It appears their own sexual desires for her manifest
themselves in their attitude towards her
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*She was once told she could have achieved her dream of appearing in movies, but this didn’t
happen
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She

ultimately ends up ‘paying the price’ for her desire for company when she succumbs to Lennie’s
overpowering strength and he accidentally kills her
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Key Quotes
‘If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him
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Jus’ nothing but mad
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’ – page 114
Crooks
*The only black character in the book
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*As soon as his dream is met with any sort of challenge, he reverts back to his usual introverted self
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Perhaps they have seen him become the victim
of physical violence too often
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This here’s my room
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’ –
page 100
‘George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter
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It’s just bein’ with
another guy
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’ - page 103
Crooks had reduced himself to nothing
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– page 114

Carlson
*A typical, self-centred American
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*Kills the dog eventually
*Looks up to the more powerful, more eloquent, more popular Slim
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It is to show that their dilemma is inescapable and they always end back up in the same place etc
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they are surrounded by land, and have no chance of owning any of it

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