Of Mice and Men: 4/8/14

Pages: 0-37

Prompt: Describe the main characters.

     One of the main characters is Lennie. He is described as, "a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily" He is not very smart and cannot make good decisions for himself. He always gets himself into trouble. At the beginning of the book we find out about why they had to run away from the town they were in. He was touching a girls dress and she got scared. This led to them being chased out of the town. He depends on his friend George to make decisions for him. An example of this is when they go to their new job George tells Lennie not to talk to anyone. Lennie helps George because he is very big and strong and can do jobs that require great strength. These jobs help them collect money to start their own farm.

     Another main character is George. He is described as, "small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose" He is smart and helps Lennie make decisions that he cannot make himself. He get annoyed with Lennie often and thinks that he could have a better life without him in it. He promised Lennie's Aunt he would watch Lennie so he is forced to stay with him. Whenever he makes Lennie upset by telling him he is annoying he tells him a story about how they will have a farm with rabbits that Lennie can watch and pet. He is often very forceful with Lennie. He will restrict him from doing much of anything. An example of this is when he tells Lennie not to talk at all when they are talking to who will be their boss to get a job.

     One of the supporting characters is Curley. George says that he's seen that kind of person before and that he is trying to get Lennie scared so he can beat him up. Lennie is very scared of Curley because of this and George tells him not to go anywhere near him. Even though George tells him to stay away from him he tells him that if Curly hits him he can beat him up. Another supporting character is Curley's wife. Even though she is married to Curley she flirts with a lot of the other workers at the ranch. A final supporting character is Slim. He is described as having a "hatchet face" that was "ageless." The author writes that "His ear heard more than was said to him." Everyone looks up to him as a role model and the author writes, "his word was taken on any subject."