Characterization: George and Lennie

Today we started to read one of my favorite novels of all time. In my (humble) opinion, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a classic story. It is set in the 1030's in California. It tells the tale of two migrant workers named George and Lennie. We learn a lot about these characters in a very short time. Right from the start, George is characterized as being the leader of the two and Lennie is the follower.

The question is: How do we know this about George and Lennie? As one of you said today, we feel like we can "see" this pair of characters from the outset of the novel. How does Steinbeck do this?

To help make the picture more clear, and to practice finding supporting quotations, I asked each of your to find a word or two describing each of these characters. Here is what you came up with:












Next class, we will pick up here where we left off (page six) and build on our understandings of these characters.