Slim Flashcards
“He moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty…the prince of the ranch”
Semantic field of supremacy-“majesty, royalty, prince” emphasises position in hierarchy
The king of ranch is boss, the prince of ranch should be Curley but it is slim showing he is higher than Curley even though he shouldn’t be
“He ain’t mean,” said Slim. “I can tell a mean guy from a mile off.”
He understands Lennie situation and knows that he is innocent and doesn’t mean to cause no harm
Slim appears to be the wise old master in omam-The Wise Old Master is a character archetype from world literature. These characters are intelligent and experienced. Other characters look to them for guidance. Slim seems to fit well into this archetype.
So if he says Lennie isn’t mean it must be true
“His authority was so great that his words were taken” “slims opinions were law”
Respected
People take his words
“Law”-his opinions are obeyed and if they aren’t they will get punished by other people on ranch because everyone confuses in him
Slim looked through George and beyond him. “Ain’t many guys travel around together,” he mused. “I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”
Isolated as he has no one like how Lennie has George
Envious of what George and Lennie has because he wants someone as well
Sarcastic tone-wishes change would occur and people would work together like George and Lennie
“A guy got to sometimes”
Comforts George even after he does something bad-it’s slims social responsibility to do this because of how he is seen as the old wise guy
In this case he can be seen to also be a priest-He’s essentially absolving George of the sin of murder here, saying that it was the just thing to do
“She slang her pups last night,” said Slim. “Nine of ‘em. I drowned four of ‘em right off. She couldn’t feed that many.”
doesn’t sentimentalise the natural world. He knows that the dog can’t nurse nine puppies, so he kills four of them to save the others. There’s no moral lesson here, unless it’s what he said to George “a guy got to sometimes”
