Characters
This character is known as the "prince of the ranch."
Who is Slim?
George and Lennie leave Weed for this reason.
What is Lennie grabbing a girl's dress/causing trouble?
The dream farm symbolizes this for George and Lennie.
What is hope/freedom/a brighter future?
"We got a future." — This quote shows this theme.
Why is Slim respected on the ranch?
What is he is fair, skilled, calm, and a natural leader?
Curley dislikes Lennie immediately for this reason.
What is his size?
George tells Lennie to go here if he gets into trouble.
Where is the brush by the river?
Candy's dog represents this theme.
What is the loss of usefulness or mercy killing?
"A guy needs somebody—to be near him." Who says this?
Who is Crooks?
Why does Lennie killing the puppy matter beyond the event itself?
What is it foreshadows Curley's wife's death/the ending?
This character dislikes Candy's dog and ends up shooting the dog.
Who is Carlson?
This is how Slim helps cover up the real cause of Curley's crushed hand.
What is he convinces Curley to say his hand got caught in a machine?
Curley's glove filled with Vaseline symbolizes this.
"I coulda been in the movies." Who says it and why is it important?
Why does Curley constantly search for his wife?
What is he is jealous/secure/controlling?
Who is Crooks?
This event causes the men to form a mob at the end of the novel.
What is Lennie killing Curley's wife?
Crooks's room symbolizes this major theme.
What is isolation/prejudice?
"You hadda, George." What is Slim referring to?
What is George's decision to shoot Lennie?
What is they show what happens when a caretaker abandons responsibility OR the theme of mercy?
This character is the first to join in on George and Lennie's dream (other than George and Lennie themselves).
Who is Candy?
This is the reason George distracts Lennie with the dream right before shooting him.
What is to comfort him/let him die peacefully?
The repeated use of the riverbank in the first and last chapters symbolizes this.
What is the cycle of events/false sense of safety/foreshadowing of tragedy?
"I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now." Who says this and why?
Who is Lennie, and it shows George kills Lennie out of love and mercy, not anger?
How does the ending comment on the American Dream?
What is Steinbeck shows it is fragile, often impossible, and easily destroyed by things outside of our control?