George: George is the story's main character, a small, quick man with well-defined features. We know this from quotes such as ‘a small quick man, dark of face. With strong, sharp features an restless eyes.’ These features show us he is very alert but he has to be as he is looking after Lennie. A migrant ranch worker, He is constantly moving ranches because of Lennie. George’s dream is to one day save enough money to buy his own place and be his own boss, living off the land. The hindrance to his goal is his mentally handicapped companion, Lennie, with whom he has travelled and worked with for years. George shows how caring and responsible he is by the energy devoted to looking after Lennie, whose blunders prevent George from working toward his dream, or even living the life of a normal rancher. From this, George's conflict arises in Lennie, to whom he has the ties of long-time companionship that he so often yearns to break in order to live the life of which he dreams. This tension strains George into demonstrating various emotions, ranging from frustration to sadness to happiness and to hope. The frustrated side of George is seen when he tells Lennie how good his life could be without him. ‘I could be livin’ so damn easy.’ The sadness that he experiences is clearly after he has shot Lennie, he seems guilty and he had also lost a companion, his only friend. ‘Georges voice was almost a whisper, he steadily looked at his right hand.’ His happiness and hope comes from when he is describing the dream to Lennie, because it is his own dream he is happy as well. This happiness that he gets from telling the dream shows that he is searching for happiness. George also realises that his dream will never happen and instead of saving money he spends it in whorehouses. George is not really to blame for his misfortunes as it is Lennie that ruins everything for him. He blames Lennie for his life but he hides behind that excuse, he does not try to make his life better by realising the dream. Instead he spends it on material women. Social pressure play a part on him because everyone else is doing that he would be an outsider if he did not do that.
Lennie: George's companion, the source of conflict. Lennie is ‘bear like,’ enormous, and mentally slow; he is George’s opposite both mentally and physically. Lennie's ignorance, innocence and helplessness make him seem initially slow-witted. His childish actions, such as his desire to pet soft things, contrast his physical size; make him seem real as the reader continues. As they find out that he has the mental prowess of a five year old. Although like a child does not mean harm, his stupidity and carelessness cause him to harm animals and people, which creates trouble for both him and George. As Lennie is so childish he does not have any enemies, but also characteristic of a child he panics in certain situations such as in the fight with Curley, he was so confused he panicked and did not know what to do. So he awaited instructions from George, ‘get him Lennie.’ Strangely Lennie is animal like as he acts instinctively and lives in the moment not worrying about the future, but this is because he is stupid. Something that Lennie is almost totally unaware of is death, when he killed Curley’s Wife he could not fully comprehend what he had done, only saying ‘I done a bad thing.’ Even the animals in the barn at the time understood what had happened but he could not. Lennie is devoted to George and loves hearing him tell the dream of having a farm, but he does not desire the dream of the American worker in the same way that George does. His understanding of George's dream is childish and he grows excited at the possibility of tending the rabbits, most likely because it will afford him a chance to pet their soft hides as much as he wishes ‘ an I getta tend d rabbits George.’ Nevertheless, a dream is a dream, different for everyone, and George and Lennie share the similar attribute of desiring what they haven't got. Lennie, however, is helpless to attain his dream, and remains a static character throughout, relying on George to fuel is hope and save him from trouble. The relationship between the two is like a parent – child relationship. Lennie is not to blame for his misfortunes, he was born slow-witted, and it is not something that is picked up like a disease. For Lennie social and economical pressures do not apply, as he is rather detached from the rest of the ranchers.
Candy: The old, one-handed crippled swamper who is the first to befriend George and Lennie at the ranch. Because of his handicap he is reduced to menial tasks at the ranch. Humble and weary, Candy seems to be very lonely and unhappy after Carlson shoots his last possession and companion, his old, blind dog. ‘When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me,’ Candy confesses to George and Lennie, hoping for a similar fate as his dog. Candy is not trusted by the ranchers as he is also regarded as inferior because he is crippled ‘I wish someone would trust me.’ He had also given up all hope of leading a good life and is aware of his eventual fate ‘just as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses they’ll put me on country,’ ‘I ain’t got the poop no more.’ But when he overhears the two talking of their little place, Candy offers all his money (compensation) and his services to be in on the dream. His substantial sum of money and the fact that he knows of a place make it impossible for George to refuse him. It rekindles life within him, but it also becomes an obsession, and in his excitement and indignation, he lets the secret slip to both Crooks and Curley's wife. And when Lennie kills Curley's wife and shatters the reality of the dream, Candy becomes hopeless and full of anguish, the broken shell of a man. Slim is not really to blame for his misfortunes as he could not help his accident, it is the ranchers that regard him as inferior which are the social pressures playing a part as they don’t make his life any better. Economically he has a lot of money saved up as compensation, and he willingly offered that to George in the stake for the dream.
