Of Mice and Men
Prompt #11 · Of Mice and Men
Prompt Type: Character Arc
Trace George's development from the beginning of the novel, where he dreams alongside Lennie, to the final scene where he must destroy that dream himself. Analyze how Steinbeck uses George's arc to explore the painful conflict between loyalty and survival. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.”
Chapter 1
Argument
Early in the novel, this quote establishes George's baseline belief in the dream and his partnership with Lennie, using parallelism to emphasize their shared future and mutual dependence before the tragic conflict between loyalty and survival emerges.
Quote 2
Chapter 5
Argument
At the turning point after Curley's wife's death, George's hopeless realization marks his recognition that the dream was always doomed, demonstrating the painful shift from hopeful companion to someone who must choose survival over loyalty.
Quote 3
“And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.”
Chapter 6
Argument
In the final scene, the physical imagery of George's shaking hand before he pulls the trigger captures the ultimate resolution of his arc—the excruciating moment where loyalty demands he destroy both Lennie and their shared dream to spare his friend a worse fate.
Quote 4
Chapter 3
Argument
Candy's regret over letting a stranger shoot his dog serves as a crucial turning point that foreshadows George's final act, establishing the thematic link between mercy killing and loyalty that will define George's ultimate choice—suggesting that true companionship sometimes demands the painful responsibility of ending suffering oneself.
Quote 5
“—I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”
Chapter 5
Argument
George's admission in the aftermath of Curley's wife's death reveals the painful self-awareness that marks his transition from dreamer to realist, acknowledging that he sustained the fantasy primarily for Lennie's sake even as he recognized its impossibility—a recognition that prepares him psychologically for the final act of destroying both Lennie and the dream.