Setting
This is the state in which the story takes place.
What is California?
The reason George and Lennie are running away from Weed and looking for work on the ranch.
What is Lennie was accused of rape.
Each character in the book looks for ways to overcome his or her own feelings of this.
What is loneliness?
This character does not realize his own strength, a character flaw which leads to his downfall.
Who is Lennie?
This is the style of writing Steinbeck uses that presents life as it actually was in the 1930s in Southern California.
What is realism?
This is the decade or time period during which the story occurs.
What is the 1930s or The Great Depression?
This is what makes George and Lennie different.
What is their friendship and that they travel together?
The book illustrates a common fear through the character of Candy.
What is of being old and useless? (and being discarded as a result)
The protagonist, this character shoulders much responsibility and shows himself to be a true friend.
Who is George?
Steinbeck uses this literary technique when he creates a picture in the reader's mind (such as Lennie snorting into the water or the little snake looking all around.)
What is imagery? Specifically, Steinbeck uses frequent animal imagery to describe Lennie.
This is the name of the River Valley and or region where the ranch is located and also where Steinbeck spent many years of his own life.
What is the Salinas River Valley?
The actions between this character and Lennie build tension in the story and among all the characters, especially when this happens as a result of the man's unreasonable dislike for Lennie.
What is when Lennie crushes Curley's hand?
The friendship between George and Lennie illustrates this idea.
What is the importance of feeling needed or necessary? or What is the importance of having someone to share your hopes and dreams to make life better? or What is the fact that it is not necessary for people to be the same to be a good friend?
This character is trusted by all the men and is therefore someone in whom George confides.
Who is Slim?
This type of figurative language is used when the author states that ..."he came as silently as a creeping bear moves."
What is a simile?
Throughout the book, the scenes of the story occur in only these three places.
What is near the river, in the bunkhouse and in the barn?
This relationship and events that occur directly parallels the relationship between George and Lennie and what ultimately occurs in the story.
What is the dependence, companionship and loyalty that exist between Candy and his dog?
True or false
This story proves that people can always determine what happens in their own lives by choosing to live right.
What is false? (The book reveals that people often encounter events or people in life that put tremendous obstacles in their way that can completely alter plans.)
This character is one of the most misunderstood and loneliest men on the ranch.
Who is Crooks?
The use of this makes Of Mice and Men easily adaptable to the stage for production of a play or a movie.
What is dialogue?
This is one of two towns specifically mentioned in the story.
What is Weed? or
What is Soledad?
This tragic decision simultaneously destroys George's hopes, his identity, his purpose and his happiness.
What is shooting Lennie to protect him from himself, from others and from Curley?
George's situation at the end of the book can be considered this.
What is a moral dilemma?
This character unwittingly puts herself in a very dangerous position.
Who is Curley's wife?
This is the term used to describe language that is used by a specific group of people or a specific profession.
What is jargon?