Of Mice and Men Character and Context Studies

Vocabulary flashcards analyzing the characters, quotes, and 1930s historical context of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

Lennie

A physically massive ranch worker characterized as a "Huge man, shapeless of face" with "wide, sloping shoulders" and strength "Strong as a bull," possessing a childlike intellect and a strong friendship with George.

Booby Hatch

The type of institution where individuals with intellectual disabilities like Lennie could be placed during the 1930s due to the complete lack of social care.

Steinbeck's Pitchfork Context

A real-life biographical experience where John Steinbeck worked alongside a man who grabbed the ranch foreman with a pitchfork, inspiring Lennie's immense and uncontrollable physical strength.

Slim

A perceptive, empathetic ranch hand and natural leader whose "authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject" and who challenges stereotypical perceptions of ranch hands by treating others with kindness.

Slim's Non-Itinerant Status

The unusual circumstance that Slim has worked on the ranch longer than most of the other men, defying the standard nomadic lifestyle of 1930s itinerant workers.

Candy

An aging ranch worker ("swamper") in a vulnerable position due to his age ("I ain't got the poop no more") whose primary companion is an old, drag-footed sheep dog.

The County

The public relief system Candy fears he will be relegated to ("they'll put me on the county") as soon as he is no longer able to swamp out the bunk houses, reflecting the absence of social security for the elderly in 1930s America.

Candy's Dog

Candy's long-time companion, described as "the best damn sheep dog I ever seen," whose loss symbolizes the loneliness of ranch workers and the disposal of the vulnerable in 1930s society.

Crooks

The ranch's Black stable buck who lives isolated from the other men, exhibits a cruel personality at times due to his racial hierarchy over Lennie, but remains intensely vulnerable and lonely.

California Civil Code

A mauled legal copy kept by Crooks in his room, reflecting his deep concern with asserting and understanding his legal rights in a segregated society.

Jim Crow Laws

The legal doctrine of "separate but equal" enforced in the southern states that fostered extreme racial segregation, prejudice, and fear of lynching during the Great Depression.

Curley's Wife

The only woman on the ranch, who is never named, experiences severe isolation ("never get to talk to nobody"), is objectified with derogatory terms like "Tart" and "Rattrap," and dreams of Hollywood fame.

Curley's Wife's American Dream

A form of escapism centered on Hollywood and the silver screen, based on an encounter where a man told her he could put her in "pitchers."

Anonymity of Curley's Wife

The deliberate omission of her actual name by Steinbeck, highlighting how women in 1930s society were objectified, treated with little respect, and restricted in their social roles.

Curley

The boss's aggressive and violent son, a lightweight boxer who has "done quite a bit in the ring," harbors an inferiority complex, and demonstrates an utter lack of care for his wife.

High-Heeled Boots

Footwear worn by Curley and his father to set themselves apart from ordinary ranch hands, demonstrating that authority on the ranch is inherited rather than earned through merit.

George

A cautious, responsible ranch worker who looks after Lennie, remains wary of Curley and Curley's wife, and shares a dream of purchasing a ten-acre farm.

"Live off the Fatta the Lan'"

A key phrase encapsulating the shared American Dream of George, Lennie, and Candy to own a house and land where they belong and can be self-sufficient.

Male Traveling Companionship

The highly unusual bond between George and Lennie in the 1930s, an era when most migrant laborers traveled entirely alone in search of work.