Analysis of Slim – Note Form

Of Mice and Men – Analysis of Slim From the moment Slim is introduced you can see he is different. He is compared to royalty ‘He moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen. ‘ .

.. ‘Prince of the ranch’. This shows Slim is the leader on the ranch. We can see Slim is far from ordinary, he has a respect unknown to the others.

‘His authority was so great his word was taken on any subject’, Slim acts as a judge in many situations, he decides that it is right to shoot Candy’s dog and also that George was right to shoot Lennie.In his first appearance we also see that Slim is a very friendly character, “His tone was friendly. It invited confidence without demanding it. “. This is very different from other characters who seem to avoid getting too close to each other, especially characters like Crooks who protect themselves by isolation.

Slim is detached from most events, he lets Carlson shoot Candy’s dog and he gets left behind when Curley’s mob go after Lennie, allowing him to observe and obtain a different point of view.Alongside with this, he is also a very intelligent character. He understands George and Lennie’s relationship when many others would see that kind of relationship as weird. He also understands Lennie’s mind, “Jesus, he’s jus’ like a kid”. Slim is one character George chooses to confined in, because of this we learn about his and Lennie’s past. Slim is trusted and respected by every character on the ranch, he is asked for his opinion on important matters and is not disobeyed by anyone, not even Curley.

Slim is a very understanding and caring character, he is aware of everyone’s emotions. When Lennie crushes Curley’s hand he sees past the violence to Lennie’s fright. Slim is not prejudiced, he doesn’t call Crooks ‘negro’ and he doesn’t ever talk about Curley’s wife as a ‘tart’. Slim is very clever and has the ability to understand things other characters will miss. This is why him and George bond so well, as they both understand Lennie.

Slim is the only character who doesn’t have a dream, he’s perfectly happy living on the ranch as a skinner.He is also the only character who doesn’t seem affected by loneliness. Slim is seen as the hero of this novel. Without Slim the book would have been much less moving and we would have found very little about George and Lennie’s relationship. The novel needed an understanding character to pull all the characters together and show how the social hierarchy works. Bibliography- http://www.

bookrags. com/essay-2004/8/18/205552/045 http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/micemen/characters. html