Of Mice and Men

Summary of, ‘Of Mice & Men’ Chapter by chapter

Chapter 1

The chapter starts with George and Lennie camping at a brush next to the Salinas River. Steinbeck immediately presents us with a vivid description of the setting. He describes it as a tranquil setting until George and Lennie come into the area. Steinbeck portrays this as a disruption to the setting and ‘The rabbits hurried noiselessly for cover. A stilted heron laboured up in the air and pounded down river.’ Lennie then drinks water from the pool. We immediately get the sense that there is something wrong or strange about Lennie’s mental state when he gets amused by the circles in the water he makes by splashing. This is then re-enforced when Lennie mimics Georges posture and then afterwards when Lennie forgot where the two were supposed to be headed for but remember about George’s promise concerning the pet rabbits.

Lennie is then found petting a dead mouse and George scolds him and throws away the mouse. Also Steinbeck discloses a small part of what happened to Lennie in weed and how he had done a bad thing, which had forced them all to run away. George then tells Lennie how he is a lot of trouble and how, ‘I (George) 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.’

The two stop talking and decide that they are going to have something to eat, and Lennie goes to goes and picks up the dead mouse that George threw away, but once again, George throws it away, this time even further. George tells Lennie off further by telling him how he had killed mice earlier with his aunt Clara. While preparing the food Lennie asks George for some ketchup with his beans, George then gets very angry and releases all his frustrations at Lennie describing how Lennie had messed up everything for him and without Lennie everything would be so easy. He mimics Lennie by saying ‘just wanted to feel that girls dress (a reference to what happened at weed) – just wanted to pet it like it was a mouse. Steinbeck then exposes Lennie's mental illness by showing how Lennie told him that he no longer wanted any ketchup and that if George wanted Lennie would run away to the mountains and would live on his own.

George then says ‘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 poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to.' He then describes the relationship of George and Lennie, ‘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 then completes it by saying, ‘But not us! Because . . . because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why. He then moves onto their dream about how they will both live off the land.

George then tells Lennie that if anything bad were to happen, or if they were to get into any trouble, they should come right to where they are and hide in the brush. The two then go to sleep, while Lennie asks George if they can have rabbits of several colours.

Lennie's murder of Curley’s wife is foreshadowed throughout this chapter. Steinbeck shows this by how he describes how Lennie cannot control his own strength and how he has killed several mice. Also the incident in weed also foreshadows Curley’s wife’s death and also when George mimics Lennie, ‘just wanted to feel that girls dress – just wanted to pet it like it was a mouse’ Steinbeck is creating a link between the ‘mouse petting’ and ‘dress feeling’. This allows the reader to create a link between Lennie not being able to control his own strength and bad things happening like the incident at weed.

Chapter 2

This chapter begins the next morning with both George and Lennie arriving at the bunkhouse in the ranch, Lennie and George come across Candy, an old crippled man, who sweeps the floors. Candy tells George how the boss was expecting them to come earlier and tells him that he was quite angry when he didn’t see them there yesterday. Candy then says how the boss was taking his anger out on the stable buck (Crooks), just because he is black.

Candy then describes the stable buck as quite a nice person, who has a crooked back because he was injured by a horse. He says how the stable buck has his own room and how the boss likes to vent his anger on him.

Candy then describes the boss as ‘a pretty nice fella. Gets pretty mad sometimes, but he's pretty nice’.

Candy also describes how there sometimes had fights and describes one of the fights involving Crooks where Crooks won because they didn’t let his opponent use his feet to account for Crooks’ disability.

The boss then comes in the room and enquires about why George and Lennie are so late. He asks both of their names and George replies for both of them. The boss immediately notices that Lennie wasn’t talking much but then George says that Lennie isn’t much of a talker ‘but he's sure a hell of a good worker. Strong as a bull.’ Lennie's disability is slightly exposed when he repeats the words ‘strong as a bull’. The boss becomes slightly suspicious and starts talking directly to Lennie, but George does all the talking. The boss becomes suspicious that George is taking advantage over Lennie but George lies and says that Lennie is his cousin and that Lennie was kicked by a horse in the head when he was young. The boss then tells them that they can work with Slim. The boss then leaves George tells Lennie off for speaking and says that he had almost lost both of their jobs. George then tells Lennie that he was lying to the boss and that they aren’t really cousins and that Lennie was never kicked in the head by a horse at all.

Then Candy comes into the room. Candy talks about his dog to George when they are interrupted by Curley coming in looking for his father (the boss). Immediately the reader receives a negative impression of Curley as he gives both Lennie and George cold glances. There is immediately a great amount of tension built up which is highlighted during their confrontation, ‘He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists.

He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious. Lennie squirmed under the look and shifted his feet nervously. Curley stepped gingerly close to him.’ As Curley and George spoke to each other, Steinbeck depicts Curley with a slight aggressive tone which immediately causes the reader to dislike him.

Candy then describes Curley as the boss’ son, who is quite ‘handy’ at fighting. George immediately says that that is no reason for him to try and start a fight with Lennie. Then Candy describes Curley as a man who has ‘short man syndrome’ as he is a short person who has quite a bit of a temper and is almost jealous that he is a small person. Candy then describes how Curley can’t lose in a fight because either way he will get support. This is shown when Candy says, ‘Never did seem right to me. S'pose Curley jumps a big guy an' licks him. Ever'body says what a game guy Curley is. And s'pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever'body says the big guy oughtta pick somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. Never did seem right to me. Seems like Curley ain't givin' nobody a chance.’ In this instance Steinbeck could be foreshadowing that Curley is going to attempt to attack Lennie. This is shown by the tension in their confrontation and the fact that Curley is portrayed to be jealous of tall people. Candy and George then promise to keep their gossip secret.

Candy then tells George about how Curley had got married recently and about how Curley’s glove is full of Vaseline for his wife. This makes the reader dislike Curley even more because he is portrayed as a person who is boasting about his sexual activity. Candy then goes on to describe Curley’s wife. He describes her as a ‘tart’ and says that he has ‘seen her give Slim the eye’ and also give ‘Carlson the eye’. Candy then leaves the room Later, George tells Lennie that he is concerned that something will happen between Lennie and Curley. He says, ‘he's gonna take a sock at you the first chance he gets.’ George immediately expresses how he dislikes Curley and this prompts the reader to feel similar emotions towards Curley. Georges’ views are shown when he says, ‘I hate that kinda bastard. I seen plenty of 'em. Like the old guy says, Curley don't take no chances. He always wins.’ George then tells Lennie not to have anything to do with Curley.

Then Curley’s wife comes into the room and asks Lennie and George if they had seen Curley anywhere. As she stands in the doorway, Lennie looks at her, fascinated. As she leaves George says that she is a tramp, but Lennie says that ‘she’s purty’ and then says again, ‘Gosh she’s purty.’ Suddenly George scolds Lennie and tells him not even to look at Curley’s wife, let alone talk to her.

Soon after, Slim comes in and begins to talk to George and asks them if they had bucked barley before. He is very friendly to both George and Lennie. He then asks them if they travel together and he notes that it is strange for that to happen, ‘"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."’.

Afterwards Carlson comes in and asks about Slim’s dog has had 5 puppies. Carlson then suggests that they should replace Candy’s old dog with a new puppy because Candy’s old dog is ‘so god damn old’ and ‘stinks like hell’. 

The group are all called out to eat and while everyone leaves, George promises Lennie that George will ask for one of the puppies for Lennie. As they are about to leave, Curley comes in asking if they had seen his wife and they say a while ago, and Curley gets angry and leaves.

Chapter 3

Later while everyone else was playing the horseshoe game, George thanks Slim for letting him have one of the puppies for Lennie, and Slim comments on how good of a worker Lennie is. Slim again notes how it is strange that the two are working together particularly when very few people do work together and stay together. George then describes his relationship with Lennie and how when they were both young George used to take advantage of Lennie, ‘Used to play jokes on 'im 'cause he was too dumb to take care of 'imself. But he was too dumb even to know he had a joke played on him. I had fun.’

The symbiotic mutual dependence between Lennie and George is highlighted when George tells Slim,'" Course Lennie's a God damn nuisance most of the time," said George. "But you get used to goin' around with a guy an' you can't get rid of him."’ This clearly highlights that it is not just Lennie who is dependent on George, but it is also George that is dependent on Lennie.

George then continues to describe Lennie to Slim. George feels that he can trust Slim, so he tells him the full details about the incident in weed that had got them fired. Lennie then comes back into the room with the pup, and George tells him off and tells him to put the new born puppy back or he may kill him. Slim notes that Lennie is just like a child. George then says he is just like a child except very strong.

Candy and Carlson then come back into the room, suddenly Carlson notes how bad Candy’s dog smells and Carlson says how the dog has no teeth, and bad joints and that Candy should just kill him. Candy feels very uncomfortable about this and says that he could never do such a thing. Carlson then offers to shoot the dog for him, but Candy still feels uneasy about it. Candy tries to delay the dogs death till tomorrow but Carlson appears to be adamant that the dog must die. Carlson takes the dog out to be shot. As soon as Carlson left there were a series of awkward silences and then there was a gunshot heard in the distance. Steinbeck utilises the death of Candy’s dog to foreshadow the murder of Curley’s wife because by the tension built up through the series of awkward silences the reader receives a feeling that something bad is going to happen. Slim then leaves the room as he needs to tar one of his mules. George then gossips about with the group about how Curley’s wife always comes in with several different excuses, and they all perceive her as a ‘tart’. George then decides that he will go to a whore house tomorrow.

Carlson and Lennie then come back into the bunkhouse, and Carlson tells the group how Curley can’t find his wife. Curley then comes in demanding to know where his wife was, and the group say they don’t know, and then Curley asks where Slim is and they say he has gone out to tar the mule. Curley then gets suspicious and leaves the bunkhouse in a hurry. Some of the guys leave to see if there will be a fight between Curley and Slim, but George and Lennie stay where they are so they don’t get involved. George interrogates Lennie about where Slim was and if he was with Curley’s wife, but Lennie says no. Lennie then asks how long it will be till they get their own land, house and rabbits, but George says he doesn’t know. George describes the plot to Lennie and they both get excited about it. Candy interrupts and asks about the costs of this place and if he could join in. Candy says he could give $350 to the cause if he could live their. George says ok and all three of them get excited as it seems like their dream could be reality. The three of them decide that they will go ahead with their project in 1 month. They then promise each other not to tell anyone else about their plan.

Candy then feels guilty about allowing Carlson to kill his dog, ‘"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog” ’. Meanwhile, Slim, Curley and Carlson come in arguing and Carlson tells Curley to keep his wife inside his house. Everyone in the room became against Curley, and Candy says disgustingly, ‘Glove full of Vaseline’ and Curley looks round in frustration. He then sees Lennie in the corner, still smiling about the thoughts of buying their own land. Curley then stepped towards him, and asked him why he was laughing. Lennie looked at helplessly at George and while he did Curley’s rage exploded and he attacked Lennie and his nose began to bleed after being hit by Curley. George cried to Lennie to attack. Lennie doesn’t instantly respond and continues to get pounded but then starts retaliating and crushes Curley’s hand. ‘Curley was flopping like a fish on a line’. Lennie then did not let go of Curley's hand immediately Slim and George have to stop get Lennie to let go and when he does he would have broken Curley's hand so bad he would need to see a doctor. Curley is sent to see a doctor, and Slim suggests that he says that Curley’s hand was trapped in a machine. The chapter ends with Lennie asking George if he can still tend the rabbits and George says that Lennie hasn’t done anything wrong.

Chapter 4

The chapter starts with Crooks, the stable buck in his room rubbing liniment on his back, with a lengthily description of Crooks’ room. The description of Crooks’ room shows how Crooks has all his belongings in his room and how it is quite personal too him, however unlike the description of the bunkhouse it doesn’t appear to be so bright and this gives the reader the feeling that something is missing in this room and this amplifies the sense of loneliness for Crooks.

Lennie then comes into the doorway and, smiles in a friendly manner, but Crooks is reluctant to accept him, and says that Lennie has no right to be in his room’. Crooks then says, ‘I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain't wanted in my room.’ This makes the reader get the impression that all Crooks actually wants is company, even though he makes it seem that he wants to be alone. This gives the reader another sense of loneliness. Steinbeck then shows how Crooks’ loneliness has effected him as a character, when he says, ‘They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.’ This shows how Crooks’ loneliness and exclusion has caused him to dislike everyone else. Lennie just ignores how Crooks doesn’t want him and comes into the room. Crooks then allows Lennie to come and sit for a while as long as he goes out when Crooks tells him to. Lennie then tells Crooks about how everyone apart from him and Candy had gone into town. Lennie tells Crooks that Candy was on his own thinking about ‘the rabbits’. Crooks then calls Lennie ‘nuts’. Lennie continues to talk about what they will do saying he isn’t crazy or he isn’t lying. Crooks however, still thinks he is crazy.

Crooks then tells Lennie to sit down. Crooks then tells Lennie about his past, “when he was young, ‘I was born right here in California. My old man had a chicken ranch, 'bout ten acres. The white kids come to play at our place, an' sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol' man didn't like that. I never knew till long later why he didn't like that. But I know now." He hesitated, and when he spoke again his voice was softer. "There wasn't another colored family for miles around. And now there ain't a colored man on this ranch an' there's jus' one family in Soledad.” Midway through conversation Lennie asks Crooks, how long it will be till the puppies are ready to pet. At this point, Lennie’s disability is once more exposed and Crooks can see that and realises that he for once has a decent amount of power.

Crooks then tries to use his power and make Lennie feel bad, and he starts of with a ‘soft and persuasive’ voice and says, S'pose George don't come back no more. S'pose he took a powder and just ain't coming back. What'll you do then?". Crooks then makes Lennie feel bad, and starts to ‘toy’ with him. As ‘Lennie's face wrinkled with apprehension.’ It is clear that Crooks is getting some pleasure out of exploiting Lennie and he continues when, ‘Crooks bored in on him. "Want me ta tell ya what'll happen? they'll take ya to the booby hatch. They'll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog."’ Crooks’ power increases however, when Lennie starts to get confused, he becomes angry and his physical presence scares Crooks. ‘"Who hurt George?" he demanded. Crooks saw the danger as it approached him.’ Crooks then stops trying to exploit Lennie. Steinbeck makes the reader feel sorry for Crooks by the speech that Crooks gives, which creates a sense of loneliness, ‘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.’

Lennie once more brings up the topic of rabbits, and the land that they are going to own, but Crooks immediately tells them that it will never be a reality, and he says, ‘I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head.’

Candy then comes inside the room. Crooks tells him he can come in and sit. Candy then begins to talk to Lennie about the rabbits and, Crooks says that they are all just kidding themselves. However, Candy reassures them and says that the money is all safe in the bank, and that they can actually do it. Crooks seems very surprised and then asks if they could let him in the group that are going to buy their own land. However he is interrupted by Curley’s wife who comes in asking if they had seen Curley. Crooks tells Curley’s wife to go because they don’t want any trouble, but she replies saying she isn’t giving them any trouble. She then asks about what happened to Curley’s hand. Candy replies saying he got it caught in a machine. Curley’s wife then notices the cuts on Lennie’s face, and asks him how he got them. Lennie then doesn’t know what to say and says, he got his hand caught in a machine. Crooks then says to Curley’s wife, ‘You got no rights comin' in a colored man's room’ and tells her to go, however she replies and says, "Listen, Nigger,You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?". She threatens Crooks, until Candy says that if she were to frame Crooks they would speak out. Candy then tells her that he heard everyone come in and she leaves.

George then comes in and Candy begins to talk to him about getting their land. George then tells him off saying that he shouldn’t tell anyone about that. They all then begin to leave, and Crooks tells Candy that he realises he can’t be part of the group and won’t want to go with them all to get the house.

Chapter 5

The chapter begins with Lennie sitting in the barn, looking at a dead puppy. The dead puppy in this chapter foreshadows Curley’s wife’s death. Lennie looks at the puppy continuing to stroke it, asking it why did it have to die. Lennie covers up the pup with hay and decides that he will tell George that he found it dead.

Curley’s wife then comes into the room and asks Lennie what he is doing, but Lennie then says that George says that Lennie should have nothing to do with Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife says, ‘Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely’. This not only creates a sense of loneliness, but it also allows the reader to sympathise with Curley’s wife and it makes the reader feel sorry for her.

Curley’s wife changes the topic and asks Lennie what he has got hidden away. Lennie tells her its his dead puppy, and tells her how he was petting it and then it was going to bite him, so he smacked it and it died. Curley’s wife tried to comfort him, saying that there are plenty of other dogs, but Lennie says that now George won’t let him tend the rabbits. Curley’s wife tells Lennie more about her past, and the reader sympathises with her even more. Lennie then begins to talk about the rabbits, and Curley’s wife asks him why he likes rabbits so much. He says its because he likes to pet nice soft things. She felt reassured and asked him if he had ever had silk or velvet. Curley’s wife then says how her hair is soft, and she invites him to stroke it. Lennie then stroked her hair but then didn’t let go. She then began to scream and to stop her screaming, Lennie grabbed her and covered her mouth. ‘She began to flop like a fish’ this is the same description to how Curley acted when Lennie crushed his hand and then she died for he had broken her neck. Lennie realising she is dead, began to cover her with hay. Steinbeck once more exposes Lennie’s disability because he does the same to the dead girl as he did to the dead dog. He then took away the dead dog and left Curley’s wife dead.

Candy then comes across Curley’s wife, dead and calls George to come and investigate, what has happened. They realise that Lennie is in real trouble. At the same time, Candy asks George if buying their land is still on, but George says no, and Candy is very upset. Candy then gets angry and curses Curley’s wife for dying like this. Meanwhile, all the other guys come and see Curley’s wife dead. Curley gets very angry and says he will kill Lennie. Carlson goes and gets his luger. They find out that Lennie stole Carlson's Luger. The group then decide to go after Lennie.

Chapter 6

The chapter begins with a setting of the brush and then Lennie appears there, and starts worrying, thinking that George is going to ‘give him hell’. Lennie contemplates going away into the mountains on his own. Then Lennie starts to have dreams of his aunt Clara telling him off for doing this and leaving George in this situation. Then Lennie gets a dream of a giant rabbit, telling him that he isn’t fit to tend any rabbits, or even lick the boots of a rabbit. Then the rabbit repeatedly tells Lennie that George is going to leave him and Lennie then shouts aloud ‘George – George – George!’ George then appears and Lennie asks him if he is going to leave him, but George says no. Lennie tells George he has done another bad thing, and when he asks if he is going to give him hell , George says that it doesn’t matter now. Lennie then asks George if he isn’t going to complain (like he did in the first chapter) and begins to imitate him.

Lennie then asks George to describe their relationship:

George was quiet for a moment. "But not us," he said.

"Because--"

"Because I got you an'-"

There are several breaks in George’s speech, and it leaves a subtle hint that George is going to kill Lennie. He shows how it is difficult for him to describe their relationship and he finds it hard to say that they have each other.

George then tells Lennie to take his hat off, and then George starts to describe the place that they are going to live in. While describing the place George takes Carlson’s luger from Lennie and as he continued to describe the place he said he wasn’t mad at him. ‘And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.’ George sat their upset, Slim tried to comfort him.

The chapter then ends with, Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, "Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys?”

Character Summaries

George Milton

George is a small man, considered to be quite smart, particularly in comparison with Lennie. He is very quick to help Lennie and gets Lennie out of trouble by using his quick wits to sometimes make up stories. He is very protective over Lennie and treats him almost like if he were a younger brother.

Lennie Small

Lennie is very large person. However he suffers from a mental illness/disability. Despite Lennie having an adult appearance, several characters describe Lennie as a ‘child’ or ‘a big baby’. This is due to his mental illness/disability which often makes him behave similar to that of a child, always asking questions and also becoming obsessed over one thing that he has set his mind on. An example of this could be Lennie’s obsession over tending rabbits, or even his obsession of having ketchup. George describes Lennie in the fifth chapter as someone who had never done anything mean, even when he did bad things, he never did them with any menace. Also Lennie enjoys petting things such as mice, rats, velvet , ladies dresses, and ladies hair which often causes a lot of trouble for both him and George.

Candy

‘A tall, stoop-shouldered old man. He was dressed in blue jeans and he carried a big push-broom in his left hand.’ Candy is a cleaner in the ranch. He has only got one hand because he lost the other hand in an accident. Candy is very old and is a cripple and is scared that he will be ‘given the can’. He has a shepherd dog that is quite similar to him in that they are both very old and they are both crippled as well. In chapter 3 Candy gets his dog shot after being complained to that the dog was useless. Candy fears that this may actually happen to him and doesn’t want to become useless and be thrown out and subsequently is very interested in the buying a plot of land.

Slim

‘A tall man stood in the doorway. He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back. Like the others he wore blue jeans and a short denim jacket. He was a jerkline skinner, the prince of the ranch, There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke. His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love. This was Slim, the jerkline skinner. His hatchet face was ageless. He might have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.’

The quotation above sums up Slim’s character very well, he is very well respected, ‘the prince of the ranch’ and is also very understanding, particularly when talking about Lennie and is also supportive of George after he killed Lennie. Steinbeck portrays Slim as a very neutral character, who is liked by everyone and does all the ‘right’ things.

Curley

Curley is the boss’s son. He is quite short and has what many people call (not an official diagnosis) short man syndrome. This is where to make up for his lack of height, one is tempered in their actions and often is jealous of tall people and often gets in fights to prove that despite being short one isn’t weak. Steinbeck portrays Curley in a negative manner. Primarily he does this through his arrogant behaviour and also as Steinbeck describes Curley as a dirty person, boasting about his sexual activity by telling people that he has put Vaseline in his glove. Also the manner in which he starts fight and his short temper along with his arrogance makes him disliked by most readers.

Curley’s wife

Curley’s wife is referred to by many of the workers as a tramp, or tart. She dresses provocatively often wearing full make up and wears a dress with red ostrich shoes. She is depicted by Steinbeck as a victim of loneliness as she is the only female character at the ranch and also her husband is very possessive of her. In her past she has several dreams that were shattered and she is very lonely. She often tries to talk to the workers, but they see her negatively.

Crooks

Crooks is a black stable buck. He is a cripple because he has a very crooked back, where his name ‘Crooks’ originates from. Society at that time viewed black people in a negative way and discriminated against them at the time. For this reason Crooks is isolated from the other workers and has his own room. He really wants some company and hates being isolated from the others. Crooks wished that he could be part of the project to live on their own land to get away from the isolation, however when Curley’s wife threatens him he loses confidence and when George tells Candy he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone Crooks says he no longer wants to be a part of the project.

Carlson

Carlson is another worker at the ranch, he is not quite as insensitive as Slim, and is actually quite similar to Curley, particularly in his approach to hunting Lennie after he ran away. Also Carlson could be seen as quite insensitive, particularly in the way he forced Candy to allow him to kill his dog.

This was originally written by Eliza Rutherford