George

Question 1

“This Curley punk is gonna get hurt if he messes around with Lennie”

Answer 1

This line heightens the fact that George is excessively caring and highlights how George always has Lennie’s back

Question 2

“No, he ain’t, but he’s sure as hell of a good worker. Strong as a bull”
“Cause I want you to stay with me”

Answer 2

• George refers to Lennie as a “good” worker as he tries to make Lennie look suitable for the job in front of everyone.
• During the Great Depression, getting a job was quite difficult and George was aware of this which is why he implied to everybody on the ranch that Lennie was indeed fulfilling of the position.

Question 3

“Guys like us who work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. Ain’t got no family and don’t belong to no place”

Answer 3

This line suggests that migrant workers didn’t have permanent residence and metaphorically could highlight the sense of no value considering they had to leave their family behind and could only carry their possessions

Question 4

‘George’s voice became deeper and he repeated his words rhythmically”

Answer 4

• The deepening of the voice and the rhythmic connotations may indicate that is how a father generally speaks to his son if he was trying to memorise a nursery rhyme, in order to train them
• ; in a similar way, George trains Lennie to believe the fairy tale to motivate him in spite of the cruel realities of the American society in the 1930s towards people like Lennie.

Question 5

“An live off the fatta the land”

Answer 5

• George is hopeful of the future at the start of the novella which is what, one may argue, why it gives Lennie to say this line.
• Lennie and George’s version of the American Dream may seem mundane to someone as they had to “simply” obtain the same land of their own.
• This conveys that they want to make their own produce of which the earth provides for them through their hard work.
• Lennie repeats this dream throughout the novella but specifically towards the end although we later discover how even the most mundane dreams were unattainable in the harsh environment of 1930s America during the Great Depression

Question 6

“You think I’d allow you to carry your own work card?”
“God, you’re a lot of trouble”

Answer 6

This line presents George’s authority over Lennie which heightens the vulnerability of the mentally ill in the 1930s and also connotes that George has no other authority in his life other than over Lennie