1) Why does Steinbeck use so many animal comparisons in "Of Mice and Men"? Examples: "Well, that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she been raped." (p. 46), "Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water…" (p. 3), "…like a horse." (p. 3), "…like a terrier…" (p. 9), "...like a dog." (p. 79), "…her body flopped like a fish." (p. 100), "...as a creeping bear." (p. 110), "…cathouse…" (p. 114).
2.) What is the point of repeated references to card playing? Why do some of them have to do with George’s playing solitaire? Examples: "Lennie reached for a face card and studied it, then turned it upside down and studied it. ‘Both ends the same,’ he said. ‘George, why is it both end’s the same?’" (pp. 61, 30, 32, 36, 37, 45, 46, 47, 54, 56, 61, and 75).
3.) Why does George swear at Lennie? Why do most of the characters call each other vulgar names? (pp. 4, 5, 9, 12, 18, 26, 35, 38, 45, 56, 69, 86, 90, 106, and on and on).
4.) Why does Lennie like nice things? (pp. 98, 6, 10, 12, 47, 99).
5.) Why is ketchup so important to Lennie? (pp. 8, 11, 13).
6.) Why do minor characters, even Susy the prostitute, and the dog Lulu, have names, but not Curley’s wife?
7.) Why does Curley’s wife have her "hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages"? (p. 39)
8.) Why are Slim’s female dog and Curley’s wife both called by the same words—"bitch" and "looloo"? (pp. 36 and 56).
9.) What important point is made by Slim’s dog having more puppies than she can feed? (p. 39).
10.) Why does Steinbeck have Slim drown four of them right away?
11.) Why do the ranch hands say Candy’s dog and Crooks both stink? Why does Crooks say, "All of you stink to me"? (pp. 39, 49, 75).
12.) Why does Carlson kill Candy’s dog?
13.) Why are there many cripples in the story—crippled dog, crippled Crooks, crippled (mentally) Lennie, crippled (hand) Curley, and crippled (hand) Candy? (pp. 50, 39, 73, 26).
14.) Why does Crooks say, "Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land"? (p. 81).
15.) Why does Curley go into the whorehouse when he just recently got married? (p. 85).
16.) Why does Aunt Clara wear "bull’s-eye" glasses?
17.) Why does George tell Lennie to look across the river? (p. 115). HINT: it's an allusion.
18.) Why does George throw the gun up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes? (p. 117).
19.) Why does Slim say, "A guy got to sometimes"? (p. 117).
20.) Why does Slim take George to get a drink? (p. 118).
21.) Why are rabbits so important to Lennie?