By Hannah & Joe
Power in
‘Of Mice
& Men’
Slim
•Slim, with his "God-like eyes" whose “ear heard more than
was said to him” and whose “slow speech had overtones
not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought” is the
leader on the ranch.
•He is the man in whom the others place their
confidence. Even George opens up to him after he tells
George "Hope you get on my team." It is Slim who
comforts George and offers him forgiveness and
comfort after the shooting of Lennie: "You hadda George. I
swear you hadda. Come on with me”. This shows that Slim
is sympathetic to George as he knew that George had to
do it for Lennie’s benefit and for everyone else’s as Lennie
is trouble but not on purpose.
Slim
•Slim is also a natural leader because he's wise and
judicious: ‘Slim’s word is law’.
•This gives him a position of authority on the farm but,
unlike Curley, he doesn't have to exploit or humiliate others
to maintain discipline. He has earnt it through having the
respect of the men.
George..
• George has power in many ways and he is capable of
doing many things with this power.
• George has physical power as he is able to do serious
farm work (but not as much as Lennie.). However,
because he pulls Lennie’s strings, he is in control of
Lennie’s physical power; he can make Lennie do what
he wants, as shown in the fight.
• George is also clever enough to take care of both
himself and Lennie in some very difficult situations; like
them being able to leave Weed without being caught or
worst.
George..
• George is also emotionally powerful as he is able to
withstand the pressures of being connected to someone
like Lennie and even to do the most difficult task at the
end (shooting Lennie and killing him).
• George also has power over Lennie as Lennie looks up
to George as he isn’t clever enough to think things
through as thoroughly as George can and will do
whatever he tells him. ‘Sure we are, if you can gather up
some dead willow sticks’.
Lennie..
Lennie doesn’t really have much power on the ranch but
one sort of power that he does have is physical power.
This is shown during the fight scene: ‘The next minute
Curley was flopping like a fish on the line, and his closed
fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand’.
Curley..
• Curley is the son of the ranch boss. One of Curley’s
defining characteristics is that he’s married to a woman
he wants to control and can’t.
• Curley has a lot of power on the ranch because of his
father's status on the ranch. Everyone is afraid of him
because his father can fire them at any given time for
any given reason. Curley can do whatever he wants and
the fact that he has a very large ego does not help that.
This shows that he has mental power over the others as
he believes he can do whatever he likes with no
consequences. He can also start on any of the ranch
workers as he knows they won’t fight back for fear of
getting kicked off the ranch and having to move on
again.
Curley’s Wife
• Curley's wife is a misfit, however; she has more position
than the other misfits and this gives her power. This is
shown during Chapter 4 when she threatens to get
Crooks hung.
• Curley's wife is a temptress. It is her sexuality that gives
her power – the power to manipulate the men and to
wind Curley up.
• She thinks she is in control of other people because she
is married to Curley but the others just try and avoid her
so they don’t get into trouble and get chucked off the
farm. This therefore undermines her power.
The Boss
• In the book, the boss of the ranch is in control of
everything.
• “Hey, what's your stake in this guy” is what the boss says
in a scene where George and Lennie have just arrived
on the ranch. This quote shows that he can control who
works for him and who doesn't and that he can ask any
question he likes and challenge whoever he likes. He
can fire someone just because he doesn't like them.
• He has mental power as he has total control over
everyone on the farm; he can decide who works there
and who doesn’t and can change his mind without any
reason.
Candy
• Candy has the least power because he is disabled and
has no use in society.
• Candy is a physical misfit; he has one hand and is no
longer fit to do much more than wield a mop. Candy lost
his hand at the ranch so the boss feels sorry that he lost
his arm working for him so he carries on employing him
so that he has somewhere to stay and eat.
• Candy is also a very lonely person as he is alone whilst
he works. He works inside whilst all the others work
outside.
Crooks
• Crooks has the least power as he has no value in
society. He is considered lowly: he is a social misfit.
• Crooks by virtue of his skin colour, has no real place on
this or any other farm. He is abused and threatened as
he is black and a cripple as he has a crooked back.
• He has no means of fighting back, he is powerless.
• Crooks has his own room as he isn’t wanted in the same
room as the others members of the ranch. He is all alone
at night in his room and has no one to talk to. He is
shown to feel sad and lonely when he talks to Lennie
about having no one to talk with or to ask if he saw the
same thing as him so he doesn’t know if he is going mad
or not.
• The power that other people have has made Crooks feel
lonely, sad and isolated.