Lennie is compared to animals a lot of the time ‘he drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse’, He relies on George to look after him; He copies George in everything and trusts him completely.
He shares a dream with George, and his dream job would be to tend rabbits as he likes to pet soft things, like puppies and mice; this got him into a lot of trouble back in Weed when he tried to feel a girls soft red dress (she thought he was going to attack/rape her). He is very strong and can do the work of two men while bucking barely.
Curley’s Wife
Curley’s wife is newly married to Curley; we don’t know her name as she is always referred to as Curley’s wife as if she is merely Curley’s ‘Property’ with no individual identity.
She is young, pretty, wears fashionable clothes and curls her hair; she is always flirting and hanging around the bunk house. ‘She had full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. He hair hung in hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages’. She is lonely as there are no other women on the ranch to talk to as nobody seems to care about her. ‘Ain't I gotta right to talk to nobody?’
She can be compared to Crooks because they are both lonely and isolated also both are thought to as second class citizens because they are different. She only married Curley because she didn’t get a letter to go to Hollywood. ‘He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it. I never got that letter’. She is also very naive.
Curley
Curley is the boss’s son, he doesn’t need to work like the other ranch hands, and he has a lot of time to kill.
He is a little guy, so he hates big guys, e.g. Lennie.
He is a prized fighter and is always looking for opportunities to fight, ‘he glanced coldly at George then Lennie, his arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hand turned to fists. He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was both calculating and pugnacious’.
He is newly married and is very possessive of his wife, but he still visits brothels.
There is a rumour going round the ranch saying that Curley wears a glove full of Vaseline to keep his hand soft for his wife.
Crooks
Crooks is a black stable buck; he is the only permanent employee at the ranch, this is because when he was younger he was kicked in the back by as horse, which left him constantly in pain. He is the only black man around and is isolated because of this e.g. He is not allowed in the bunk house or into town with the other ranch hands. He is also called a ‘Nigger’ by the other men, which shows that racism was a very common and taken for granted. Because he is isolated he feels ‘lonely’
And because of this he is similar to Curley’s wife. We can tell this from when he says, ‘spose you didn’t have nobody. Spose you couldn’t come go into the bunkhouse and play Rummy cause you were black. A guy needs some body-to be near him-I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick’. The only time he mixes with the other ranch hands socially is when they pitch horse shoes, in this he is unbeatable. Crooks has his own room near the stables and has a few possessions. He has books, which shows he is intelligent and he also has a copy of the California Civil Rights Code, this shows he is concerned about his rights, he has seen many people come and go all dreaming of buying their own piece of land.
Candy
Candy is the oldest ranch hand and he lost his right hand in an accident at work. He is the ‘swamper’ (cleans the bunkhouse).
He knows he will be thrown out and put ‘on the country’ when he is too old to work, because of this, he accept everything that goes on and doesn’t challenge anything as he can’t afford to lose his job.
He has a very old dog, which he has had from a pup and is his only friend and companion.
‘The old man came slowly into the room. He had his broom in his hand and at his heels there walked a drag-footed sheep dog, grey of muzzle and with pale, blind old eyes’.
Carlson persuades Candy to let him shoot the dog as it is too old and ill to be of any use to him. Candy is devastated.
He is lonely and isolated, but makes friends with George and Lennie and offers his compensation money to help them all to buy a ranch together and achieve their dream.
Slim
Slim is the jerk line skinner of the ranch (lead mule team driver) and is excellent at his job as he is a natural leader at the ranch. Everyone respects his views and looks up to him. He is similar to Curley because they both have authority, Slim has respect of all of the men, yet Curley has none.
He has quiet dignity: he doesn’t need to assert himself to have authority.
‘There was gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all stopped talking when he spoke. His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, politics or love’.
He understands the relationship between George and Lennie. He helps George at the end in his decision to shoot Lennie as Lennie had killed Curley’s Wife and he reassures George that he did the right thing.
We know little else about him, which gives him a slightly mysterious quality. Do you think he is too good to be true?
In the book I have noticed a few comparisons between the characters,
Crooks and Curley’s wife are similar, they are both lonely and are thought as second class citizens because they are different (one is a girl and one is black) also there are contrasts between Curley and Slim, they are both figures of authority yet, Slim has respect while Curley has none, the main characters George and Lennie are completely different, George is small and sharp minded, while Lennie is big and slow.
By Rowan Cooper
