of mice and men

Curly's wife

A lonely ranch housewife. killed by Lennie, threatened to have crooks lynched;Curley's wife or possession. George and Candy call her by other names such as ''jailbait'' or "tart." She wears too much makeup and dresses with red fingernails and red shoes with ostrich feathers. Lennie is fascinated by her and cannot take his eyes off her.

Carlson

A ranch-hand, Carlson complains bitterly about Candy's old, smelly dog. He convinces Candy to put the dog out of its misery. When Candy finally agrees, Carlson promises to execute the task without causing the animal any suffering. Later, George uses Carlson's gun to shoot Lennie.

Lennie Small

A slow-witted exceptionally strong man who is very big. He loves to pet soft furry animals but due to his strength, he unwittingly kills them;John Steinbeck, the author of Of Mice and Men, describes Lennie as a large, strong, lumbering, simple-minded man who is usually unaware of his actions and surroundings. His favorite thing to do is pet soft things. When we first meet him, he has a dead mouse in his pocket that he is petting with his thumb.

candy

Candy is an old ranch worker ("swamper") who has lost one of his hands in a farm accident. He's spent the best years of his life working on someone else's ranch, only to lose his hand and have little money.

crooks

Crooks, the black stable-hand, gets his name from his crooked back. Proud, bitter, and caustically funny, he is isolated from the other men because of the color of his skin. Despite himself, Crooks becomes fond of Lennie, and though he derisively claims to have seen countless men following empty dreams of buying their own land, he asks Lennie if he can go with them and hoe in the garden.

Why do George and Lennie leave the ranch in Weed?

Lennie was accused of rape

the boss

The Boss - The stocky, well-dressed man in charge of the ranch, and Curley's father. He is never named and appears only once, but seems to be a fair-minded man.

slim

The jerkline skinner at the ranch, Slim is a seemingly ageless man who carries himself with great gravity. He gives Lennie one of his new litter of puppies to care for. Curley initially suspects that his wife is having an affair with Slim.

whit

a "young laboring man" named Whit comes into the bunkhouse.

george milton

small and wiry, cares for Lennie, working to get money to buy a farm;George Milton is the somewhat unlikeable protagonist of Of Mice and Men. While Lennie Small, George's companion, is simple-minded and friendly, George is sharp in every way: his physical features are slim and sharp; he has a sharp mind and wit; he is quick-tempered and sharp when dealing with Lennie.

Curley

son of the ranch owner, wears high-heeled boots to distinguish himself from the ranch hands, champion prize-fighter, confrontational, mean-spirited, picks fights, possessive and jealous of his wife.