Chapter Text
Explore how the language in the extract influences your view of the relationship between Slim and George
Or: How I discovered George and Slim were perfect for each other.
Have you ever been told to analyse a book for English? Well in England it’s part of the GCSE syllabus and Of Mice and Men is one of those very books. And once the reading of the book has been completed, the teachers will inevitably give you a long lecture consisting of the social context, major and minor characters and themes before giving you a question to answer for homework.
The question consists of 3 parts: part A and B about an extract form the book then part C where you have to look at something similar in another part of the novel. Part A was “Explore how the language in the extract influences your view of the relationship between Slim and George” and I wrote 3 pages full of something one step away from a shipping manifesto.
But first, a little introduction….
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The Characters:
George Milton
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”
First up we have the protagonist of the novel: George Milton; itinerant farm worker and Lennie’s best friend and carer. In the era of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, many farm workers travelled across the USA in search of work. George and they have one big difference: George travels with mentally-disabled friend of many years Lennie Small. He’s a huge, childlike man with no concept of his own strength and a fondness for soft things that gets both him and George into trouble. The whole reason George and Lennie are travelling to the ranch in the first place is because Lennie tried to stroke a woman’s red dress and refused to let go when she started screaming. Accused of rape, George took off with Lennie and found them work at another ranch far away.
Street smart, mercurial and defensive, life has not been kind to George and George has retaliated by building up defence mechanism after defence mechanism. Besides promising Lennie’s Aunt Clara to look after him before she died, little else is known about George and so much is left up to fanfiction writers.
Slim
“ Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other."
The highest ranking ranch hand at the farm where Lennie and George find work, Slim is ‘the prince of the ranch’, the head mule driver with confidence in his abilities. He is the only person in the book who seems relatively at peace with himself and the place he is at. He is there during all of the drama and ensures the Boss will not find out it was in fact Lennie who broke his son’s- Curley- hand. Once George has shot Lennie at the end of the book it is Slim who knows what has actually occurred and takes him off for a drink.
Slim is just about the only calming influence that the ranch hands have and is the only one who isn’t afraid to flirt back with Curley’s wife- no one else dares for fear of being fired. Despite seeming quite open, we learn little about Slim throughout the novel and do not even know if Slim is his actual first name. He’s intelligent- like George- but has none of the aggressiveness present in the former.
How I learnt to ship it
The extract I was given was just the start of chapter 3 to George’s line of “Got kinda used to each other after a little while” but it was enough. Bear in mind, this is the first real interaction we get of the pair and George is thanking Slim for giving Lennie one of the puppies that his dog has just given birth to. Here’s my entire answer (3 pages full) and by the end I was hooked.
Slim and George are the two characters in Of Mice and Men who are simultaneously the most alike and the most diametrical. Both are of a similar age, living in a harsh world where the ability to work determines whether someone eats each day. Because of the similarity of their situations, George and Slim form a rare relationship. This can be seen when the two ‘came into the bunkhouse together’. ‘Together’ isn’t necessarily needed and implies how they were talking previously- implying a budding acquaintance.
The next part suggesting a friendship is when ‘George took his place opposite’. The preposition shows George is making an active effort to be nice and non-defensive to Slim. He could have sat further away, such as on his bed- out of the light. It has been shown previously that George is a very defensive person, so why wouldn’t he sit further away, minimizing the chance of being engaged in conversation? Of revealing his emotions? Because he wants to talk to Slim, he’s lonely; Lennie is good company and staves off loneliness and gives George a purpose, but Slim understands George. Slim understands the world and feels emotions in a more mature way than mentally-disabled Lennie. Slim and George are kindred spirits, searching each other out to stave off the loneliness. This makes the reader feels happy that the two have found some semblance of normalcy and be glad that George has found someone that he can be himself with.
Moreover, George is shown to be comfortable with Slim; he uses informal contractions like ‘gonna’ and ‘keepin’ because he feels like he is on an equal level with Slim- unlike earlier in the novel with the Boss, George does not have to be polite or formal and unlike with Lennie, George can rely on Slim to keep the conversation going; George can be himself around Slim with no pressure to act a certain way. All of this results in one once again being glad of the friendship the pair has forged.
Furthermore, there are hints that George and Slim have talked before when Slim tells George that he ‘sure was right about (Lennie)’ and there is no previous mention of Slim having overheard George talking to any of the other farm workers about Lennie, it is the logical conclusion that George and Slim have had at least one discussion that has occurred without the reader being privy to the details. This consequently causes the audience to reflect on how situations are not to be taken at face value and also consider how the amicable atmosphere between the two workers actually makes sense. Slim, with his knowledge of everything, and George, with his years of hardship cultivating defense mechanism after defense mechanism.
In addition, Slim seems to understand how to get hardened men such as George to open up information. He ‘moved back slightly’ in an ‘invitation to confidence’. Not only this, but one could also infer that Slim is also lonely- he is ‘the prince of the ranch’ so naturally everyone will be nicer to him on order to avoid being ‘canned’- and as such wants George to feels comfortable around him. This makes the reader feels sympathetic, once again drawing parallels between the two. Also, the two are forgoing the horseshoe game that the other ranch hands are playing outside the bunkhouse to talk and it implies that socializing with the others is not important. What is important is their discussion now- Slim moves out of the light and the spotlight is on George in a way it has most likely never been before, giving him a chance to shine.
However, the differences between George and Slim are starkly seen in the very next line. The adverb ‘defensively’ shows how George is still a product of his time- itinerant workers were streetwise and emotionally repressed and Slim’s non-judgmental disposition and apparent willingness to listen are at odds to the instincts ingrained in him. George is a man who is constantly evaluating the world around him, looking for hidden motives and goals in case they prove to be a threat to him and Lennie. This invokes a lot of sympathy for him, and also pity.
George’s suspicions of an ulterior motive may be partly right as Slim tells him ‘I hardly ever seen two guys travel together’, which hints that the relationship is also a way for the jerk line skinner to satisfy his curiosity. Moreover, Slim is similar to George also in the fact that he is a very perceptive person; immediately able to gouge people and their personality. This can be seen with the quote ‘a smart little guy like you’. Once again, the reader is reminded of hoe the relationship between the two is well-suited, in spite of first impressions.
Also in the extract, it is clear that George is using his friendship with Slim as a means of escape from his harsh reality. We can see this when he defends Lennie, saying that his friend ‘ain't no cuckoo’. It has been well established that Slim is the most respected man on the ranch, with almost as much power as Boss’ son Curley, yet George feels on such equal footing that he is not afraid to contradict his words. Also, he tells Slim that Lennie is ‘dumb as hell, but he ain't crazy’. With Lennie, he uses short sentences and lots of exclamations because he is stressed from the pressure taking care of his friend puts him under. With Slim, he has found another ordinary guy to talk to, who he relates to. The reader can sense how much of an impact Slim will have on George in the future of the novel, even if he himself has no idea.
But, it is at this point that we first see just how much of a juxtaposition Slim and George are. George says ‘I ain't so bright’, and this is the key thing that makes George and Slim so different. Slim is not arrogant, but he has confidence in his abilities to work whilst George doesn’t. Slim, if not happy or content with his life, is accepting of his situation and confident in his skills. But George, with his street-smarts and emotional baggage and the pressure of keeping Lennie out of trouble and making sure neither of them is sacked, has no one but himself. Lennie- for all of his love for George- cannot give him a confidant or reassurance. Like a child, he thinks of only himself, unable to understand the emotional needs of others and this has taken its toll on George. Not only that, but George has mood swings; one second he is defensive and close to snapping Slim’s head off and then in the next sentence he is being self-deprecating. The author does this to make you feels sorry for George, and empathize and relate with him.
Slim is from a different kettle of fish than George has been around in what is most likely years. He is neutral; he ‘neither encouraged nor discouraged him’. He is a non-judgmental character who wants to know more about George and Lennie for seemingly no other reason than curiosity and this can make their relationship very volatile from George on occasion. However, George obviously trusts Slim not to laugh at his dreams of having his ‘own little place’. This is the reason they get along so well: they understand each other and they understand life. Slim knows how to get George to talk (when he waits until George tells him the stuff he wants to know) and George wants to talk to him. Unlike with Lennie, there is no obligation for the two to be friends- how could there be, with George having Lennie’s help to fight his battles? He knows Slim would not dare put a bad word for him with the Boss should he rebuke his attempts at companionship- and talking to someone relatable and ‘ordinary’ offers the pair of them escapism from their life, where it is all just work and harsh, grueling labour. Steinbeck influences the reader into thinking that they are glad the two seem to be at the very least developing a friendship- it is one of the few sparkling diamonds in the muck of the loneliness and isolation perpetuating the novel.
Can you see why I started shipping it? And that’s just from one A5 extract! Slim is a leader, Steinbeck describes him as ‘Godlike’ and he provides George with an outlet. He is there in every key part of the novel; he’s there when Candy’s dog is shot and when Lennie breaks Curley’s hand and when they find Curley’s wife’s body. And who comforts George after he has to shoot Lennie? Slim: he takes him to get a drink and doesn’t ask questions.
Are you shipping it now?
Next up: an analysis of George in the first part of chapter one and (maybe) some fanfiction by moi.