Of Mice and Men (1937) (edit title/settings)

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Characters edit see section history

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• George Milton: One of the main characters, George moves from ranch to ranch for work with his friend Lennie. Of the two of them, he is the smaller but also the more intellectual, and the leader. He is generally good-natured but sometimes gets angry. He is a guider or a father figure to Lennie. Played by Gary Sinese in the 1992 film adaptation.
• Curley: Son of the boss, short and aggressive.
• Candy: An old, one armed worker on the ranch who owns an old dog whose smell and disturbs everybody.
• Carlson: A ranch-hand, Carlson complains bitterly about Candy’s old, smelly dog, killed Candy's dog. He owns a gun.
• Curley's wife: She isn't happy with Curley, always wanders aroundy and flirts with the workers on the farm. She says she just wants someone to talk to because she's lonely.
• Crooks: A stable-buck, who got his name from his crooked back. He is isolated from the other men because he is the only black worker on the farm.
• Whit: A ranch-hand that likes to see a fight, but not be involved.
• The Boss: The stocky, well-dressed man in charge of the ranch, and Curley’s father. He is never named and appears only once, but seems to be a fair-minded man. Candy happily reports that the boss once delivered a gallon of whiskey to the ranch-hands on Christmas Day.
• Aunt Clara: Lennie’s aunt: a kind and patient woman who took good care of Lennie and cared for him until her death
• Mr. Slim: A highly skilled mule driver and the acknowledged “prince” of the ranch, Slim is the only character who seems to be at peace with himself. He is a skilled skinner.
• Lennie Small: Lennie Small is a man of large stature and great strength, but limited mental abilities
• William Tenner: Former worker mentioned briefly only because his letter was found in a magazine. Lennie & George never meet him.
• Susy: Runs a "cat house" and tells a lot of jokes.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”

  George

• “The hell with rabbits.That's all you ever can remember is them rabbits. O.K.! Now you listen and this time you got to remember so we don't get in no trouble. You remember settin' in that gutter on Howard street and watchin' that blackboard?”

  George

• “Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is”

  The Boss

• “'Course he ain't mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he's so God damn dumb.”

  George

• “Never you mind. A guy got to sometimes”

  Slim

• “All kin's a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house.”

  George Milton

• “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.”

  Candy

• “If I catch any one man, and he's alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an' you won't talk. Jus' nothing but mad. You're all scared of each other, that's what. Ever' one of you's scared the rest is goin' to get something on you.”

• “A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn’t drunk. I don’t know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an’ then it would be all right. But I jus’ don’t know.”

  Crooks speaks these words to Lennie in Section 4, on the night that Lennie visits Crooks in his room.

• “"S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."”

  Crooks

• “A colored man got to have some rights even if he don't like 'em.”

  Crooks

• “"What about the rabbits, George?"”

  Lennie

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely.

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• “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re pound-in’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.”

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• “God, you’re a lot of trouble,” said George. “I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.”

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• As happens sometimes, a moment settled and hovered and remained for much more than a moment. And sound stopped and movement stopped for much, much more than a moment.

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• His anger left him suddenly. He looked across the fire at Lennie’s anguished face, and then he looked ashamedly at the flames.

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• “With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.” Lennie broke in. “But not us! An’ why? Because . . . because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”

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• A little stocky man stood in the open doorway. He wore blue jean trousers, a flannel shirt, a black, unbuttoned vest and a black coat. His thumbs were stuck in his belt, on each side of a square steel buckle. On his head was a soiled brown Stetson hat, and he wore high-heeled boots and spurs to prove he was not a laboring man.

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• THE BUNKHOUSE WAS A LONG, rectangular building. Inside,

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

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• Soledad: The city most of the events in the story take place at.
• Salinas River: A calm area George and Lennie rest at before they continue the trip to the ranch. There's a large pool, and a brush.

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Bindle: bag in which they carry their personal possessions, of which they of few
• Bindle stiff: migrant workers who carry their personal possessions on their backs

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

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• Loneliness: Crooks is the character that suffer from loneliness the most. "When a guy doesn't have nobody, he goes nuts" he said when he was having a conversation with Lennie. But the other characters all suffer from loneliness one way or another. Curley's wife, Candy, Lennie and even George at the last pages of the book.
• The Failed American Dream: This story is talking about the Great Depression and American Dream. Most of them fails.
• Dreams and Hopes: Most dreams are failing
• Innocence: Describe this theme.
• Isolation
• Friendship: tests the friendship. puts it to the breaking point
• Disillusionment: Lennie isn't all there.
• Prejudice: Prejudice was one of the themes shown in this novel. The first time it's shown, is with Carlson and Candy over agism. What happens is that Carlson nags Candy into letting him shoot his dog, being so old. The next encounter is with black Crooks. Being black in the 1910's America, he went through a lot, including having to sleep in the barn, being demeaned by Curley's wife, and was allowed in the bunkhouse only to be made fun of. Finally, Lennie was shown prejudice as Curley hated him from the start, (proceeding into a fight later). Also, Curley's wife called him a 'dumb-dumb' later on. This theme can be found in many characters as everyone has flaws. Consider, Curley is short, leading to Napoleon syndrome, (or control issues), and his wife is, well, a woman. This totally leads to discrimination on an all male ranch, earning her the names 'tart', 'tramp', etc. As you should be able to see now, prejudice is a theme flown all through the story, fitting the time period very well, compliments characters, and arouses mixed emotions.
• Loneliness and the Need for Companionship: The workers play solitary a lot --> LonelinessThe workers don't have many friends --> Need for Companionship

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. John Steinbeck (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Waterstones Books of the Century (1997, #35)
• BBC's Big Read (April 2003: Best-Loved Novel, #52)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3537.T3234 1937
• Dewey: 813.52

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Has some graphic violence but it's no worse than what teens watch on T.V. today, which may not be acceptable to all families with teens. Some parts might upset younger children and teens as it upset my teen daughters when they had to study it. This book was not originally written as a young adult novel, but like a number of other adult literary novels is commonly included in public high school English classes, usually during freshman/grade 9 year. Recommend pre-reading before giving to a sensitive young adult, particularly if you homeschool because you don't agree with public school standards.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( S ) › Steinbeck, John
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States › 20th Century
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Wikipedia: Of Mice and Men is a novel written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in California, USA.Based on Steinbeck's own experiences as a bindlestiff in the 1920s (before the arrival of the Okies he would vividly describe in The Grapes of Wrath), the title is taken from Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse", which read: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." (The best laid schemes of mice and men / Often go awry.)Required reading in many schools, Of Mice and Men has been a frequent target of censors for vulgarity and what some consider offensive and racist language; consequently, it appears on the American Library Association's list of the Most Challenged Books of 21st Century.
• Sparknotes: A very indepth look at all parts of Mice and Men, including places, characters, and chapters indivigually.Great for if you are doing a exam or report about it, or if you just want to test your knowledge in the Quiz or want to find books which are good for further reading.
• Of Mice and Men Literature Guide by Secondary Solutions

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Of Mice and Men (IMDb): 1939
• Of Mice and Men (IMDb): 1992

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