“ restless eyes and sharp, strong features” “everything about him was defined”
“Give me a good whore house an’ no … messes.” “ It looks kinda scummy”
“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world…They don’t belong no place.”
“God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy” “ You crazy son-of-a- bitch. You keep me in hot water all the time.”
“ Lennie ain’t no fighter, but Lennie’s strong and quick and Lennie don’t know no rules.”
“Funny how you and him string along together” Lennie “…ain’t no cuckoo”
Slim “…regarded him with horror” “…too frightened to defend himself.”
“…strong as a bull” “The way a bear drags his paws”
“…covered his face with his huge paws and bleated with terror…” “Le’s get out of here. It’s mean here.”
“After a long time they get mean they get wantin’ to fight all the time.”
“ I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I get old an’ a cripple”
“Nobody never gets to heaven and nobody gets no land” “…an live off the fatta the lan’ ”
“This thing they had never really believed in was coming true” George looked “raptly entranced by his own picture”
“…nobody could can us” Someone where we’d “belong”
“Ain’t many guys travel around together. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other”
“A guy needs somebody to be near him…” “It’s just the talkin’. It’s just bein’ with another guy.”
“I ought to of shot that dog myself George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.”
A “mauled copy of the California Civil Code for 1905” “ He kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs”
“I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain’t wanted in my room” “You got no right…”
“They let the nigger come in that night” “…Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger…The boss gives him hell when he’s mad.
“…some sort of private victory…” Face “…lighted in pleasure in his torture”
“ a coloured man got to have some rights even if he don’t like ‘em” “…keep your place…”
“Listen nigger…I could get you strung up on a tree so quickly it ain’t even funny.”
“…had retired into the terrible protective dignity of the Negro” “Crooks had reduced himself to nothing.”
“There was no personality, no ego – nothing to arouse either like or dislike.”
“seems like Curley ain’t givin’ nobody a chance.” “ …angry little man”
“…lashed his body round…” “…slashed and smashed” into Lennie
His glance was “calculating and pugnacious” “…like a terrier…”
“ The dirty little rat…I’ll get ‘um myself” “I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.”
“I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” “…her words tumbled out in a passion of communication…”
“jailbait” “a tart” “tramp” “rat trap” She, “got the eye” “…heavily made up”
“I think Curley’s married a tart.” Voice had “a nasal brittle quality”
“ A nigger, an a dumdum an’ a lousy old sheep - an likin’ it ‘cause there ain’t nobody else”
“I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts” “She was very pretty and simple and her face was sweet and young”
“And the meaness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face.”
“A guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers” “They’ll take ya to the booby hatch. They’ll tie ya up with a collar like a dog.”
“…An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George.”
“You hadda, George. I swear you hadda.” “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”
“…understanding beyond thought…” His tone was, “friendly. It invited confidence”
“God-like eyes” “calm eyes.” “He moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen”
Speech “ gentle” Looked “kindly” “His word was taken on any subject”
“Slim’s opinions were law…” “ a gravity in his manner”
“Why…he…just quit, the way a guy will…Just wanted to move on”
“Slim don’t need to wear no high-heeled boots…” “All talk stopped when he spoke”
“You’re yella as a frog belly…You come for me an’ I’ll kick your God damn head off”