chapter 2 characters Flashcards
Slim
Slim is a handsome, strong, intelligent and decent man who is a natural leader with ‘gravity’, a good listener and respected by the ranch hands.
George
George is small and quick, a restless, clean-living, intelligent man who is very caring and modest, a strong personality but unhappy with his life.
Lennie
Lennie is big and strong, a man with a child’s mind who depends on George. He loves to stroke animals but cannot control his strength.
Curley
Curley is the Boss’s son, who is needlessly aggressive, arrogant and selfish, and is always spoiling for a fight.
Curley’s wife
She is a flirtatious, attractive and lonely girl who regrets marrying Curley, and who is accidentally killed by Lennie
slim
He has a quiet dignity: he doesn’t need to assert himself to have authority.
“there was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talked stopped when he spoke. His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love.”
He understands the relationship between George and Lennie. He helps George at the end and reassures George that he did the right thing.
crookes
Crooks is the black stable hand or buck.
He is the only permanent employee at the ranch, since he injured his back in an accident. His back gives him constant pain.
He is always called the ‘nigger’ by the men, which shows how racism is taken for granted. The men don’t mean to insult Crooks every time they call him this, but they never think to use his name
All this has made him proud and aloof.
He is lonely.
carlson
Carlson insists on shooting the dog because he claims it is too old and ill to be of any use. Candy is devastated.
He is lonely and isolated, but makes friends with George and Lennie and offers his compensation money to help them all to buy a ranch together and achieve their dream.
candy
He lost his right hand in an accident at work.
He is the ‘swamper’ - the man who cleans the bunkhouse. He knows he will be thrown out and put ‘on the county’ when he is too old to work.
Because of this, he accepts what goes on and doesn’t challenge anything: he can’t afford to lose his job.
He has a very old dog, which he has had from a pup. It is his only friend and companion.
