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Characters in Of Mice
and Men (Quotes)
English Literature

Description of
Characters

Curley
Pugnacious
Gingerly
Elbows bent, fists closed
Calculating
Coldly
Tightly curled hair
Stared levelly
Aggressive
Hostile
Lack of Control
Threatening

Cantankerous
Natural Instinct
Intemperate
Forceful
Vicious
Like a spring (Eruption)
Truculent
Unwelcoming
Intimidating
Ill-tempered
Splenetic

Curley’s Wife
Tarty
Jail Bait
Playfully
Flung her body around
Rouged lips
Hair like ‘Sausages’
Ostrich Feathers
Colour RED
Cuts off Light

Floozy
Heavily Made up
Tramp
Whore
Bitter
Lonely
Cruel
Powerless
A loo-loo

Candy
Vulnerable
Scared of being ‘canned’
Oldest on the ranch
Cautious
Scared
Subject to ageism
‘Old swamper’
Desperate

Isolated
Lonely
Shares dream
Heart-broken at the end
Endangered
Defenseless
Unimportant
Liable

Crooks
Constantly referred to as the ‘nigger’
Scapegoat
Source of entertainment
Refers people as ‘Sir or Ma’am’
Has no rights
Proud, aloof man
Pain tightened lips
Refers himself as a ‘nigger’
Extremely isolated, lonely

Outsider
Stable buck
Subject to racism
Evil to Lennie
Unsociable
Nobody to talk to
Defensive

Lennie
Child like mind
Slow
Retarded
Uneducated
Cuckoo
Animalistic
Follows George
Lack of control
Unbelievably strong

No social skills
Forgetful
Uses soft items
for comfort
Loves animals
Clumsy
Naive
Doesn’t think
he is responsible

George
Small, dark, quick
Sense of bitterness
Talks to people he trusts
Clever
Responsible
Plays Lennie
Kills Lennie (Ultimate sacrifice)
Good judge of character

Slim
Presented as a God
‘God like eyes’
His word is law
Good sense of judgement
Pleasant
Better than the rest
Face is ageless
‘Moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and
master craftsmen’

Overview of Characters

Candy
●
●

We first meet Candy in the bunkhouse in ch
...
He is in a vulnerable position
because he is the old swamper of the ranch and disabled
...
Refers to many of
the ranch hands as ‘nice fella’ because he is frightened he will cause offence
...
Candy describes
the memorable life he has had with his dog and takes pride in him and this mirrors
George and Lennie, but is bullied into him being killed by the single minded,
Carlson
...
Let's wait till
tomorra’, Finally Candy is completely defeated ‘softly and hopelessly, ‘Awrighttake ‘im’’
...
He offers them money to join them in their dream
...

In the scene in Crooks room in ch
...
When she is cruel to Crooks he
stands up for him
...
He starts to cry
...
2, when Candy says the boss gave the
stable buck hell, and he is a scapegoat and he was allowed in the
bunkhouse at Christmas, however, he was bullied and used a source of
entertainment
...

Later, before the fight scene, Crooks enters the bunkhouse looking for Slim,
and refers to him as ‘Mr Slim’ which shows the respect he must show
...
4, it is set in Crooks’ room and we are given further indication to
his character
...
This suggests he is treated like an animal
...

‘Proud, aloof man’ - doesn’t socialise with the others
‘Pain tightened lips’ - shows his suffering
‘Stiffened and a scowl came on his face’ - emphasises he doesn’t want anyone
entering
...

Crooks is powerless, and lonely, however he takes pleasure in psychologically
torturing Lennie, we see loneliness has made him mean
...
‘Crooks
pressed forward some kind of private victory’ ‘Crooks’ face enlightened with pleasure
in his torture, however, Lennie’s physical presence scares him and he justifies what
he has done ‘You got George
...
Also when Candy enters he is pleased of the company ‘It was difficult
for Candy to conceal his pleasure with anger’

●

When Curley’s wife enters, she is also powerless, but she attacks Crooks’
because is an easy target and reminds him of the harsh reality of the
society
...
The phrase ‘Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed
himself against the wall’ suggests he trying to disappear
...


Curley’s Wife
●

●

●
●
●

●

Curley’s wife is portrayed as a ‘tarty’ women who flirts with all the men on the ranch
and everyone thinks she is trouble
...

We first hear about Curley’s Wife when Candy says ‘Well I think Curley’s married a
tart’, hear Steinbeck is prejudicing the reader into thinking she is a prostitute, whore
etc
...
sunshine in the doorway was
cut off
...

‘Hair rolled like sausages’ suggests men see her as a piece of meat
...
‘Her fingernails were red’ which could suggest she may end
up with blood on her fingers
...


Curley’s Wife
●

●

●

In the scene in Crooks’ room, the other men try to get rid of her ‘Maybe you
better go along to your own house now’ this is because the other men are
scared they are going to get in trouble
...
She is portrayed as cruel and evil for being like this, however, this is
evidence of loneliness making her mean
...

● She goes on to talk about her dreams, she took pleasure in the conversation
‘she hurried before her listener could be taken away’ this exemplifies that
she is desperate to tell her story to someone who will listen
...
The use of colour, ‘reddened lips’ show her beauty in death
...


Lennie
●

●

Lennie is one of the novel's main characters, his mental disability is his
main weakness and his lack of control and awareness of his actions
eventually catches up with him
...
Lennie relies on George for the majority of things and listens
to whatever George has to say, the way the ranch workers listen to Slim and
refer to him as a ‘God’
...
’Flung himself’
-lack of control and ‘snorting the water like a horse’ lack of social skill,
uneducated

Lennie
●
●
●
●

●

George is Lennie’s role model ‘Lennie, who has been watching, imitated
George exactly
...
’
George needs Lennie for company
Lennie’s strength is emphasised in the fight scene, Lennie doesn’t want to
fight ‘Lennie covered his face with his huge paws and bleated with terror’
but when George tells Lennie to ‘get him’ he breaks every bone in his hand
...
You know he’s goin’
to come back’

Lennie
●
●

●

●

In ch
...
She let
him stroke her hair, but when she says stop, he gets confused and
eventually breaks her neck
...

Lennie knows he has ‘done something bad’ and goes back to the brush
where it first began, it is a cyclical book which illustrates the vicious circle
that everyone is in and that there is no escape
...




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