Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions

This article will introduce and analyze the characters in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. If you’ve read my other articles on Steinbeck’s novel, you know how depressing this book is. (Here’s a summary if you need a refresh.) Though some of the characters are reduced to mere symbols (Curley’s wife in particular), the friendship between George and Lennie is still poignant almost 90 years after the book was published. Continue for Of Mice and Men characters with descriptions. 

Also check out our Of Mice and Men Summary and our 7 Most Important Quotes in Of Mice and Men.

(While there are some PDFs of the text online, my quotes are from the Penguin Modern Classics version.)

Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions 

Lennie

Lennie is George’s best friend. A hulk of a man, he has the intellect of a toddler. This combination causes no end of trouble for him (and George). When we first meet Lennie, he’s described as “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders” (2). (From this description, one can’t help but think of the creature in Shelley’s Frankenstein.)

Lennie’s main joy in life is petting soft things – mice, puppies, and, unfortunately, women’s hair and dresses. We learn that Lennie was taken in as a boy by his Aunt Clara in Auburn, California. When she died, George told her that he would take care of Lennie. The text suggests that they’ve both been migrant farm workers for years. 

While he’s a great worker, Lennie can’t survive on his own (ultimately, he can’t survive with George either). At the end of the book, Curley’s wife comes to the barn where Lennie is petting a dead puppy and offers to let him pet her hair (not a euphemism). Things go pear-shaped fast. When Curley’s wife tells Lennie that he’s “mussing” her hair, she tries to pull away. Lennie holds on tight and she starts to scream. Because he’s just accidentally killed a puppy, Lennie is afraid her screams will bring George to the barn. He puts his hands over her mouth and shakes her, breaking her neck. 

Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions (Continued)

George has told Lennie that if he gets in any trouble, he should run to the river and hide in the brush. After he kills Curley’s wife, Lennie does what George’s told him to do. While he’s at the river, he hallucinates his Aunt Clara and a giant rabbit, both of whom berate him for his stupidity. When George arrives, he’s not angry. He tells Lennie to look across the river and imagine the farm they’re going to buy. While he’s telling Lennie the story of the rabbits, George shoots him in the back of the head. 

I know that Lennie is the pathos of OMAM, but I can’t help but think that he’s the least interesting character in the book. The way he’s portrayed, he’s barely more than an animal. He can’t make any choices and can’t survive on his own. He’s a shallow pool of a character compared to the depth of George, Candy, or Crooks.   

George Milton

George is introduced as “small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features” (2). The narrator continues, “Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose” (2). 

Since they were young, George has taken care of Lennie. Both Lennie and George were born in Auburn, California. As George describes it to Slim later in the book, when Lennie’s Aunt Clara died, Lennie just started coming out to work with him – “Got kinda used to it after a little while” (45). 

Though he cares for Lennie deeply, George is constantly frustrated by Lennie’s inability to stay out of trouble. When we meet them, Lennie’s actions have just gotten them run out of Weed, California. (Lennie tried to pet a woman’s dress and wouldn’t let go. After she claimed Lennie raped her, George and Lennie barely escape a lynch mob.)

Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions (Continued)

In the first scene, George laments all the things he could do if he didn’t have to take care of Lennie. He could “stay in a cat house all night…eat any place I want…or set [sic] in a pool room and play cards” (12). Instead, they’re “in hot water all the time” (12). 

In spite of his occasional anger and frustration, George has great affection for Lennie. Whenever Lennie asks, George always tells him about “the rabbits” – the farm they dream of owning and the rabbits that Lennie will get to take care of. (In the last scene of the book, George tells Lennie about the rabbits as he shoots him in the head.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about George’s affection for other men (as well as his rejection of the only woman in the text). The first hint that there’s something queer about George appears when Curley comes into the bunkhouse looking for his wife. After he sizes the new guys up, he questions why George doesn’t let Lennie speak. George says that “We travel together” (28). Curley’s response – Oh, so it’s that way.” – seems to suggest that he understands something queer (i.e., non-standard) between Lennie and George. Again, I want to reassert that this doesn’t “prove” George is gay – rather, George seems to be situated outside traditional heteronormativity. 

Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions (Continued)

This impression is reinforced when we see George’s reaction to Curley’s wife. When she arrives, ostensibly looking for Curley, Lennie is immediately interested. We read, “Lennie’s eyes moved down over her body,” and “Lenie watched her, fascinated.” Compare this reaction to George’s disgust – “Jesus, what a tramp.” George then warns Lennie against having anything to do with Curley’s wife, calling her “jail bait” and a “rattrap” [sic]. 

Slim 

A reader could understand George’s reaction to Curley’s wife to simply be a gimlet-eyed approach to the realities of the world. Maybe George has been burned in love before – who knows? At the same time, I want to contrast George’s rejection of Curley’s wife with the reaction he (and the text) give to Slim, the jerkline skinner (I’ve written about Slim before.) [← link to OMAM quotes] In a passage that’s worth quoting at length, witness the narrative (erotic?) attention given to Slim’s body. We read, 

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…When he had finished combing his hair he moved into the room, and he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen…His hatchet face was ageless…His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer. (37-38)

It feels significant that Slim is the only character that the narrator spends so much time (and awe) describing. This impression is reinforced later in the text. When George and Slim are talking about Lennie in the next scene, we read that “George…saw the calm, Godlike eyes [of Slim] fastened on him” (45). 

Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions (Continued)

With this description of Slim in mind, it’s harder to dismiss the #vibe between him and George. When the narrator finally stops talking about Slim’s hands, Slim sits down at the card table across from where George is playing solitaire (“I’m lonely!”). Then, in a moment that feels super flirty, we read that “Slim leaned over the table and snapped the corner of a loose card. ‘You guys travel around together?’ (38). To make sure that Slim’s interest in George’s arrangement is different from Curley’s, the narrator adds that Slim’s “tone was friendly,” and “invited confidence without demanding it” (38).   

Like George, Slim is described as actively rejecting Curley’s wife. When Curley hears that Slim has gone down to the barn to put some tar on mule’s split hoof, Curley suspects an affair. While we don’t witness the confrontation, we see Curley and Slim return to the bunkhouse. Curley is trying to apologize to Slim. He tells Slim, “I didn’t mean nothing…I just ast you” (69). Slim is angry and tells Curley that he’s “gettin’ God damn sick of it” (70). In this way, the novel posits Slim above the heterosexual competition for Curley’s wife. 

Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions (Continued)

Finally, the tenderness between George and Slim in the last scene warrants attention. George has just shot Lennie in the head and is reeling. The other men arrive at the river and see George sitting next to Lennie’s body. In a moment that feels significant, Slim goes to George “and sat down beside him, sat very close to him” (121). Slim then comforts George, saying, “You hadda…I swear you hadda,” before leading George back to the barn. The insular relationship between George and Slim is reinforced when Carlson looks after them and asks “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” (121). 

Curley 

The boss’s son, Curley is a small, insecure man who is always spoiling for a fight with larger men (not a euphemism?). For this reason, he takes an immediate dislike to Lennie (who eventually crushes his hand). Curley has recently gotten married and it’s implied that he is impotent. He puts Vaseline on his left hand and wears a glove because he’s “keeping his hand soft for his wife” (30). 

“Curley’s Wife”

Curely’s wife has no name – she is defined by her relationship with her man. Steinbeck addressed this misogyny in a New York Times article from 1992. Asked why she didn’t have a name, Steinbeck replied, “For one good reason. She’s not a person, she’s a symbol. She has no function, except to be a foil – and a danger to Lennie.” 

Curley’s wife is pretty but vapid, and we learn early in the novel that she’s “a tart” and has “the eye” for the farm hands. Spurred by her loneliness and her bitterness – she feels she could have been in “pitchers” – she is killed by Lennie at the end of the book. 

Candy

Candy is the old man who keeps the bunkhouse clean. It’s the only job he can do since he lost a hand to one of the machines. When Candy hears that George and Lennie are thinking about buying a little farm, he offers to contribute his life savings if he can live there. 

Crooks 

Crooks is the black man who takes care of the stables. Kicked by a horse when he was younger (hence the name “Crooks” from “crooked”), he is lonely and bitter. As the only black man on the farm, Crooks is in a particularly precarious position. In scene four, we see how powerless Crooks is. When Curley’s wife joins Candy, Crooks, and Lennie in the barn, Crooks tells her to leave. Her response is to threaten him with lynching. 

Of Mice and Men Characters with Descriptions (Continued)

Carleson 

Carleson is one of the farmhands. Early in the novel, he convinces Candy that the latter’s old dog should be put out of its misery. When Candy hesitates, Carlson offers to do it himself. This mercy killing foreshadows Lennie’s death at the end of the book.

Whit

One of the farmhands, Whit’s one contribution to the story is his love of pulp magazines. During the tense moments after Carleson offers to shoot Candy’s dog, Whit’s enthusiasm for the “Dark Rider” stories momentarily distracts the farm hands in the bunkhouse. . 

The Boss

The farm’s nameless owner (and Curley’s father), “the boss” is portrayed as a generally nice, if suspicious, character. 

Of Mice and Men Characters – Wrapping Up

Like the The Great Gatsby, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men illustrates the failure of “the American Dream. Unlike Gatsby, George and Lennie aren’t looking for love – they just want enough land to raise chickens, alfalfa, and some rabbits. Ultimately, their powerlessness in the face of abstract economic forces (The Great Depression, wage labor, alienation) reduces their existence to mere survival. 

If you’ve found this article useful or interesting, you can also check out my summaries and analyses of 1984, Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, The Crucible, Beloved, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Macbeth, and Jane Eyre.