Characters

George Milton

Physical Description: A small, wiry, and sharp-featured man. He has restless eyes, strong hands, and a quick, deliberate way of moving. His size is often contrasted with Lennie’s bulk.

Personality: Practical, intelligent, resourceful, and easily irritated—but deeply loyal. George has a protective instinct that often shows through his frustration. While he is often harsh in his speech, he cares deeply for Lennie and feels responsible for him.

Beliefs & Motivations: George believes in the dream of independence—owning a small farm where he and Lennie can live off the “fatta the land.” This dream symbolizes safety, dignity, and escape from the instability of itinerant life. He understands the unlikelihood of the dream but clings to it as a source of hope.

How He Acts: He constantly looks out for Lennie’s safety, manages the consequences of Lennie’s behavior, and navigates social situations for both of them. Despite his irritation, his actions are paternal and self-sacrificing.

How He Speaks: Direct, sharp, and often sarcastic. His speech is filled with slang and quick commands. When telling the dream story, however, his tone becomes rhythmic and hopeful.

Backstory: George grew up in Auburn and knew Lennie’s Aunt Clara. When she died, Lennie stayed with George, and George gradually grew protective of him, especially after realizing how easily Lennie could be hurt or manipulated. In their past job in Weed, Lennie accidentally frightened a girl by grabbing her soft dress—an incident that forced them to flee.

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Lennie Small

Physical Description: A huge, broad-shouldered man with a shapeless face, large pale eyes, and immense physical strength. His movements resemble those of an oversized child or a powerful but gentle animal.

Personality: Innocent, gentle, childlike, and deeply loyal to George. Lennie is motivated by sensory pleasure—soft things to pet, comfort, companionship—and by his intense desire to please George.

Beliefs & Motivations: Lennie believes absolutely in George and the dream of the farm. The promise of tending rabbits symbolizes safety, belonging, and joy. He has no understanding of his own strength and no malicious intent.

How He Acts: He imitates George’s posture, gestures, and attitudes. He reacts emotionally—fear, sadness, or happiness—without restraint. He accidentally harms small animals and, later, people because he does not know how to regulate his physical power.

How He Speaks: Slow, sometimes slurred, and repetitive. He echoes George often. His language is simple, emotional, and rooted in concrete desires—“I get to tend the rabbits.”

Backstory: Raised by Aunt Clara, who gave him mice because he loved to pet soft things. After her death, he stayed with George. His limited understanding and immense strength have put them into multiple difficult situations, the most recent being Weed.

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Candy

Physical Description: An old, stoop-shouldered ranch worker with one hand missing (the wrist ends in a round stump). He moves slowly and is accompanied by his ancient, nearly blind dog.

Personality: Lonely, eager for companionship, soft-spoken, and deeply afraid of being useless. Candy desperately wants security and human connection.

Beliefs & Motivations: He fears being fired and disposed of as he ages. When he hears George and Lennie’s dream, he clings to it with desperate hope, offering his life savings to join them. His belief in the dream is sincere and heartfelt.

How He Acts: Nervous and apologetic. He often hovers at the edges of conversations. In conflict, he becomes subdued and uncertain, especially when pressured by more dominant men.

How He Speaks: Hesitant, rambling, and often defensive. His tone reflects his insecurity.

Backstory: He has spent his life doing ranch labor. His dog was once the best sheepdog in the region, but is now old, mirroring Candy’s fear of his own obsolescence. Candy also has an old mangy dog that has no teeth and stinks, Candy feeds the dog with milk from a bottle.

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Curley

Physical Description: A thin, wiry young man with tightly curled hair. He wears high-heeled boots to emphasize his authority as the boss’s son.

Personality: Aggressive, insecure, jealous, and constantly seeking dominance. Curley behaves like a man with something to prove.

Beliefs & Motivations: Curley believes strength must be asserted physically. He targets men bigger than he is—like Lennie—to compensate for his small stature. He is obsessed with controlling his wife.

How He Acts: Jumps into fights, acts possessively, and prowls around the ranch looking for conflict. His insecurity makes him volatile.

How He Speaks: Sharp, confrontational, and often laced with threats. He speaks with the tone of someone who expects obedience because of his position.

Backstory: As the boss’s son, he grew up with power but without respect. His time in the boxing ring fuels his aggressive identity.

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Curley’s Wife

Physical Description: Young, attractive, heavily made up, with red lips, red fingernails, and curled hair. She wears flashy clothing and shoes decorated with red ostrich feathers.

Personality: Lonely, flirtatious, restless, and deeply dissatisfied. Her behavior is driven not by malice but by isolation and a desire to be seen and appreciated.

Beliefs & Motivations: She believes she could have been in Hollywood and resents her life on the ranch. She feels trapped in her marriage and ignored by the ranch workers. Her flirtation is an attempt to escape her loneliness.

How She Acts: Lingers in doorways, uses her body and voice to attract attention, and constantly “looks for Curley” while really seeking conversation.

How She Speaks: Brittle, nasal, and performative—she echoes the style of actresses she idolizes. Her tone can shift quickly from playful to sharp to wounded.

Backstory: A man once promised to get her into the movies—she still clings to that memory. Feeling cheated out of a better life, she married Curley for lack of options.

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Slim

Physical Description: A tall, calm, graceful man with ageless features and long black hair combed straight back. His hands are large but graceful, almost artistic.

Personality: Wise, confident, empathetic, and quietly authoritative. Slim serves as the moral center of the ranch.

Beliefs & Motivations: He believes in fairness, dignity, and the unspoken code of the working man. He respects competence and kindness.

How He Acts: Moves with quiet authority. Others stop speaking when he talks. He mediates conflicts, listens without judgment, and treats both men and animals with care.

How He Speaks: Slow, quiet, and thoughtful. His speech carries weight and reassurance.

Backstory: A highly skilled “jerkline skinner,” respected everywhere he works. His past is less detailed, emphasizing his role as a symbolic figure of natural leadership.

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Carlson

Physical Description: A big, strong, thick-shouldered man.

Personality: Blunt, practical, and unsentimental. Carlson lacks emotional sensitivity and views things in terms of efficiency or inconvenience.

Beliefs & Motivations: He believes that usefulness determines worth. This worldview drives his insistence that Candy’s old dog should be shot.

How He Acts: Direct, sometimes callous. Quick to propose killing the dog; unaware of the pain this causes Candy.

How He Speaks: Straightforward, impatient, and without emotional nuance.

Backstory: A long-term ranch hand, hardened by the repetitive, lonely life of migrant labor.

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Settings

The Soledad Riverbank

This setting opens and closes the novel, symbolizing peace, refuge, and ultimately tragedy.

Physical Details:

• A deep, green pool of the Salinas River.
• Warm water flowing over golden sand.
• Willows and sycamores lining the banks.
• Natural wildlife: rabbits, lizards, herons, deer, and dogs.
• A beaten path used by ranchers, boys, and wandering workers.
• An ash pile and a smoothed sycamore limb showing past camps.

Atmosphere: Tranquil, golden, natural—Steinbeck paints it almost as Edenic. The riverbank represents freedom from society, a place where George and Lennie can be their truest selves.

Symbolic Meaning:

• Safety and beginnings (their first peaceful scene).
• Fate and endings (their final scene).
• The dream of freedom, always just out of reach.

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The Ranch / Farm Setting

A harsh, impersonal world defined by labor and hierarchy.

The Bunkhouse

• Long and rectangular with whitewashed walls.
• Bare wooden floors.
• Rows of bunks with apple-box shelves.
• A black cast-iron stove.
• A central table covered in cards.
• Smells of sweat, old dog, dust, and labor.

Atmosphere: Functional, cold, and communal—but not intimate. A place of transience, where no man truly belongs.

The Barn

• Filled with hay, tools, and the smell of animals.
• A place of both life (Slim’s pups) and death (later events).
• Represents warmth but also danger, secrecy, and turning points in the story.

The Fields / Work Areas

• Grain teams, mules, threshing machines.
• Dust, heat, and the constant pressure of labor.
• Represents the grinding, repetitive life of migrant workers.

The Boss’s House

Where Curley and his wife live—symbolizing hierarchy and the power divide.

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