Start with either:

a) George Milton and Lennie Small are unusual travelling companions…
b) The two protagonists (George Milton and Lennie Small) are an unusual combination…

• Full names?
• What do they look like?
• Lennie – Tall, strong, big-built, “shapeless of face”
• George – Shorter, thin, “sharp-featured”
– CONTRAST

Continue with either:

a) The two men are also different in their personalities…
b) The men are not just different in their physical appearance…

• Describe their personalities – what are they like?
• Lennie – Simple/ mind of a child/ unintelligent,
• remembers everything George says,
• can’t always remember what he has to do,
• good-natured, no malice in him,
• likes soft things – rabbits, velvet, mice, puppies.
• Lennie’s love of soft things becomes clear when he says, “watch out them cats don’t get the little rabbits… You jus’ let ‘em try to get the rabbits. I’ll break their god-damn necks.”

The relationship between these characters seems at first to be imbalanced. However, there is real friendship between the men. “If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.” This demonstrates that George and Lennie are different to other men because someone else cares for them. S George’s affection for Lennie is tempered by the reality that his friend makes his life significantly more complicated. George’s frustration with Lennie often emerges in anger, saying, “God, you’re a lot of trouble… I could get along so easy if I didn’t have you on my tail.”