Chapter 1 Questions (16pts) 1. Describe the setting of chapter one. 2. List words that describe Lennie. What animal is he compared to? 3. List words that describe George. What animal could he be compared to? 4. What things does Lennie say and do that make him seem like a child? How would you estimate Lennie s mental age? 5. Why did George and Lennie need to leave the town of Weed so quickly? 6. Does George really want Lennie to go away? Why or why not? 7. **What is the dream that Lennie begs George to repeat to him? What does Lennie mean by the phrase live off the fatta the lan? 8. Near the end of the chapter, what are two things George wants Lennie to remember?
Chapter 2 Questions (26pts) 1. Describe the man who meets George and Lennie at the bunkhouse. 2. Who was Whitey and why is George concerned about pant s rabbits? As described, is a bunkhouse a very good home? Why or why not? 3. Whom did the boss punish when Lennie and George were late? Is he, as Candy asserts, a nice guy? 4. What are two good reasons that George doesn t let Lennie answer any questions? 5. How does the boss react to George s friendship with Lennie? Are his concerns justified in this case and what does it reveal about the boss character? 6. What excuse does George give for Lennie s slowness? 7. **How does Curley react to Lennie s silence and what does this revel about his character? 8. What does Candy mean when he states that Curley s pretty handy?
9. What does Curly imply when he says, Oh, so it s that way when he hears that George and Lennie travel together? 10. **What is Curley s wife really looking for? How is she trying to get it, and do you think that makes her a bad person? 11. Why does George have an uneasy feeling at the chapter s end? 12. Who is Slim and how does Steinbeck describe him? What do the men think of him? 13. What is Carlson s problem and what solution does he suggest? **Essay or short answer questions
Chapter 3 Questions 1. What kind act does Slim do for Lennie? 2. How does Slim react to the fact that George and Lennie travel together? Contrast Slim s view of their friendship with the responses of Curley and the boss. 3. What two embarrassing things does George tell Slim about? Why does George reveal these things? 4. How does Candy describe his dog? In contrast, how does Carlson describe the dog? 5. What does Whitey excitedly show Slim and why is it so important to him? 6. Before Carlson leaves with the dog, what does Slim remind him of? Why does he need to do this?
7. **George and Lennie discuss their dream. What details can you add now? Who might be able to help them realize their goals (make them a reality) and how? 8. What motivates Curley s anger and what is the result of it? 9. In this chapter, what plot resolution was offered to the reader and then put in doubt?
Chapter 4 Questions 1. Describe Crook s living arrangements. Why are they different? 2. What does Crooks say about the bunkhouse and the men who live in it? 3. How does Crooks fill his lonliness? 4. How does Crooks feel about Lennie s dream of livin off the fatta tha lan? Why is he so bitter? 5. What is Crooks sometimes afraid of late at night in his little room? 6. What cruel and unjust thing does Curley s wife threaten Crooks with? How do you feel about her? 7. What gives Candy the confidence to argue with Curley s wife?
8. How does she feel about Curley s injury? What does Curley s wife figure out? 9. Importantly, Crooks changes his mind about something at the end of this chapter. What is it? 10. What does Crooks tell Candy and what motivates this change?
Chapter 5 Questions 1. Chapter five begins with an accident. Why did it happen and what consequence does Lennie fear? 2. How does Curley s wife react when Lennie says he s not supposed to talk to her? 3. What, according to Curley s wife, will keep people from knowing that they are speaking alone in the barn? 4. What feelings does she reveal in their conversation? What situations from her past does she reveal? 5. **Do you feel more sympathetic towards her character after this conversation? Why? 6. What does she invite Lennie to do that proves to be a serious mistake?
7. **What terrible event occurs in chapter five and how was it foreshadowed? 8. Why does George leave and then return to the barn with the others?
Chapter 6 Questions 1. What does Lennie remember that George has told him? 2. **Lennie has two unusual hallucinations. Describe them. 3. How do the characters in Lennie s dream treat him? What emotional needs do these hallucinations fulfill? 4. How does George try to make Lennie s final moments special and free from guilt and pain? 5. ** Earlier in the novel, what event foreshadowed George s final resolution of the novel s conflict? 6. Why did George lie to the others about what really happened?
7. Do you think this story has a positive or negative ending? Why?