The purpose of my essay is to look at how Slim is presented as a threat to George and Lennie later on in the novel Of Mice and Men.

The first time that we meet Slim in the novel is on page 34. Steinbeck goes into a very detailed description of him, describing him in a beautiful manner, and then the first thing that we hear from Slim is “Brighter’n a bitch outside”. All throughout the novel, George has been telling Lennie not to trust anyone, don’t talk to anybody, you can’t trust them. Yet when George first meets Slim, there very first conversation is a philosophical one. They talk about traveling, and more specifically traveling together. George says it’s nicer to travel with a friend, which could foreshadow a vulnerability on his part. George is already trusting Slim too much, he has only just met him, he shouldn’t be so trusting of Slim. Even though Slim seems to be a gentle and kind person,  George has just met him and should not be so trusting. George is beginning to contradict himself and what he told Lennie, not only by being so trusting of Slim, but he told Slim that he was his friend. Yet he told the boss that Lennie was his friend.

This essay has looked at how Slim can possibly present a threat to George and Lennie in the novel.