Of Mice and Men Study Guide

Chapter 1
80 points
1. Who are the two main characters?

2. Describe George’s physical characteristics and personality.

3. Describe Lennie’s physical characteristics and his personality.

4. Where were George and Lennie headed?

5. Where were they coming from?

6. What did Lennie do that got the men into trouble?

7. What did Lennie find along side the trail and why did he like it so much?

8. What was George and Lennie’s dream, and how did this dream make them stand out from
any other ranch hand?

9. George gets frustrated with Lennie at one point. Describe Lennie’s reaction?
 10.How did George’s outburst and Lennie’s reaction make you feel as a reader?

11.George’s response to Lennie’s suggestion is:

12.Describe the kind of relationship that George and Lennie have. Be sure to mention if it is a
one-sided relationship or if it is a mutual relationship. Use examples from the chapter to
prove your thoughts.

Chapter 2

1. Describe the setting of this chapter.

2. The first person to interact with George and Lennie when they got to the ranch was
_____________________.

3. What did this person tell George and Lennie about?

4. Describe the boss’ physical appearance and his personality.

5. Does the boss trust the relationship between George and Lennie? Why or why not?

6. What is unusual about George and Lennie?

 7. George finds someone listening to his conversation with Lennie. Who is this gentleman
and what insights does he provide for George and Lennie about the ranch?

8. After the warnings that Candy gave George and Lennie and after having met the boss and
Curley how do they feel about their new place? Why?

Chapter 3

1. Who is talking at the beginning of the chapter and who/what are they talking about?

2. Which kind of fellow is more of a nice guy, the smart guy or the dumb guy? Why do you
think this is?

3. Why is George reluctant to tell Slim about what happened in Weed?

4. What kind of relationship do Candy and his dog have now that the dog is older? Why is
this? Support your answer with evidence from the book?

5. When talking about Curley’s new wife, the guys refer to her as a looloo and then say,
“she’s got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody” (51). What do you think this means?
6. How does Curley feel about his wife’s actions? See the quote on page 51 that says “An’
Curley’s pants is just crawlin’ with ants, but they ain’t nothin’ come of it yet” to help you
with your answer.

7. Why does Lennie what to hear about the dream so often and in so much detail?

8. What does this repetition of the dream do for both George and Lennie?

9. What is Candy’s proposal?

10.What does this do to George and Lennie’s dream?

11.Why did Curley get mad at Lennie? And how did Lennie first react to Curley’s attack?

12.After some convincing, what did Lennie to do Curley?

13.George and Lennie didn’t want to get fired for this altercation with Curley, so what did
Slim make Curley promise?
 14.After the fight Lennie knew that what he did wasn’t right, what was his biggest concern?

Chapter 4

1. Describe what kind of man Crooks was. Looks, personal characteristics, etc.

2. Why do you think Crooks was so quick to get rid of Lennie, but then so quick to let him into
his room to talk?

3. What fear does Crooks put into Lennie’s mind?

4. Crooks tells Lennie that every guy needs somebody, another guy to talk to because books
aren’t good enough. In regards to relationships what kind of relationship does Crooks
have with the other guys and his books and what kind of a relationship does he want?
Why?

5. What important part of the ‘dream’ did Candy tell Crooks? Why was this a big mistake?

6. We actually listen to Curley’s wife have a conversation in this chapter. What is she like
(don’t think just physical description, think her personality and attitude as well).

7. List some reasons why Curley’s wife isn’t given a proper name in the book. Do you think
this represents anything (symbolism)?
 8. What do you think Curley’s wife’s motives were when she went into the barn to talk with
Crooks, Candy and Lennie?

9. Why did Crooks change his mind at the end of the chapter?

Chapter 5

1. How is the beginning of this chapter different from the others?

2. What are Lennie’s thoughts occupied with? Why?

3. In this chapter we see Lennie conversing with himself. Because of the author doing this,
we can see now that Lennie is smarter/dumber than we originally thought. This is
proved true in this chapter when…

4. This person comes in to talk to Lennie. What does she have to say to him? Why is she
there?

5. What dreams does Curley’s wife have?

 6. From the conversation that we witness between Curley’s wife and Lennie, what do we
learn about Curley’s wife’s personality and how does she feel about Curley?

7. During the conversation with Curley’s wife, we see that Lennie is still distracted. What is
he worried about and how does Curley’s wife react to this?

8. What is the climax of this chapter? Might we be able to say that this is the climax of the
book so far? Why or why not?

9. After Lennie realizes that he killed Curley’s wife what does he immediately think of?

10.Who first found Curley’s wife?

11.After George finds out what has happened, what does he suggest to Candy that they do?
What then does Candy suggest?

12.What is Candy’s ultimate reaction to the death of Curley’s wife? Why?

13.Who went out looking for Lennie?

Chapter 6
1. Where is Lennie?

2. We meet Aunt Clara in this final chapter, and though we know she is just a figment of
Lennie’s imagination, what types of things does she tell Lennie?

3. What else comes to visit Lennie while he’s hiding out?

4. Why is Lennie having these hallucinations?

5. Why do you think John Steinbeck created these imaginary characters? What effect do
they have on the reader? What effect do they have on Lennie?

6. George shows up and calms Lennie’s nerves by __________ and then he ______________.
(Write your answer below)

7. George and Slim walk away together. What is Slim trying to do for George? What does
this say about Slim’s character?

8. What is the final line of the book?

9. What two characters share the message of this line, and what do you suppose they meant
by it?
10.What does this final line say about the relationships that Curley and Carlson are used to
and then one’s that George and Slim are used to? Provide detailed examples from the
book to help support your answer. **This answer should be at least 2 paragraphs if not
more. (5 points)