Character and Themes (Of Mice and Men)

During the novella George takes care of Lennie, who is his friend, they have a very strong relationship which is held together by a 'dream'. George often tells Lennie the dream over and over.    "Georges voice became deeper he repeated his words rhythmically as though he had said them many times before"

George also has to look out for Lennie as he often gets them into trouble. People think that George is stealing Lennies pay but he isnt, he also lies for lennie for them to keep the job by saying they were cousins .

George never shows violence in the novella however does use words instead. He often descripes Curley's wife in a bad way, '********' and tells Lennie to stay away from her. 

At the end of the Novella George has to kill Lennie to save him from being linched.

Lennie is a very large guy, he is a very good worker but is very dumb.  " A huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders;"

Lennie has a obsession for soft things, it starts out very small but gets bigger and bigger, it starts out with ust mice and he pets them but alwasys ends up killing them. "I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead" This just shows that Lennie is not aware of his own strength. He then starts to pet puppys after he is given one in the barn, but again he kills this and hides it in the hay of the barn. "why do you got to get killed? You aint so little as mice" . Finally Lennie ends up killing Curleys wife after stroking her hair to hard and breaking her neck. 

Lennie also believe in Georges dream and towards the end of the novella starts to show more of an understanding of the dream as he remeber more. Lennie is very guided by George through out the novella as George tells him what to do. 

Candy only has one hand, and as he reveales later in the novella he lost it at the ranch. "I lost my hand on this ranch thats why they gave me a job swamping". Candy likes to 'gossip' on the ranch and always knows other peoples business, maybe this is because he has no one to talk to? Is this why he instantly buys into George and Lennies dream of owning there own ranch? He does whatever he can to pursuade them to let him be part of it. 

A MAJOR part in the novella is when Candy is forced to let his dog die. This happens in the bunk house when Carlson forces Candy to let him kill his dog because it is old and smells. Candy is desperate to keep the dog alive as he seems him as a son, maybe his only kind of companion ship. "candy looked from face to face for help"  .

Carlson who kills the dog is relentless and doesnt stop until he gets what he wants. He is unsympathetic and he is a clear representation of the reality of 1930's America.

Curley is the boss's son on the ranch, he is married to 'Curleys wife' and have been married 2 weeks.

Curley is seen as the nasty guy on the ranch as he likes to pick of big guys. "I hate big guys".  We also see this when Curley picks on Lennie in the bunk house when searching for his wife. This ends up with Curley having a broken hand, despite the fact that he is ment to be good at fighting. "Curley pretty handy. Hes done quite a bit in the ring. He's a light weight and hes handy" This suggests he is aggressive and good at fighting.

He all the time talks down to the other men on the ranch. "He glanched coldly at George and Lennie"  This suggests that the men are not welcome on the ranch, purhaps because Lennie is big? and this makes Curley angry. 

He also wears a glove on his hand which is "fulla vasaline". "well ill tell ya what- Curley says he's keeping that hand soft for his wife" This is a crude sexual reference. 

She has no name, this suggests that she is nothing but a possesion to Curley. She is also used as a LITERACY DEVICE, a cataylst to speed up the novella. 

We hear about Curley's wife before we see her, when the men are talking in the bunk house, here she is descriped as "********" and a flirt. The term ******** suggests to us that she is lower than the age of consent. 

When we first see her she is presented in a very provacative way. "She leaned agaist the doorframe so that her body was thrown forward". "She had full rouged lips and wide spaced open eyes heavily made up". This description shows us that she is trying to impress someone, perhaps because she didnt get any attention from Curley. "She smiled archly and TWITCHED her body" SEXUAL. 

We also know that Curleys wife has dream's and is very naive. She talks to Lennie in the barn of her dreams of being a Hollywood actress and how she was told she could. "coulda been in the movies, an' had nice clothes". "this guy said i was a natural".  This shows how she is naive and has always craved attention.

In the end her need for attention inirectly kills her. 

Crooks in the only black man on the ranch. He is treated differently and he knows it. He has a seperate bunk from all the other men. "the room was swept and neat, for crook was a proud, aloof man" 

However in the novella he realises that Lennie isnt very bright and takes advantage of this by teasing Lennie about George not coming back after being out in town. "spose he dont come back, what'll do then?"  Here Crookes uses his only power over Lennie as this is how he is normally treated. 

Crooks is yet another man to buy into Lennie and Georges dream as he asks if he can help. "why i'd come and lend a hand" . This shows how desperate people are to have there own ranch, there own piece of hope.