Guide Mentor

Slim

Slim is god-like and all-wise. Because he’s so smart, Slim is the only person on the ranch who isn’t jealous of or threatened by anyone else. He sees things for what they are, knows what’s supposedly right and wrong, and stands up for George and Lennie when no one else will. He listens to George talk about Lennie and asks him important questions that reinforce George’s feelings of responsibility and friendship. He analyzes Lennie and decides that Lennie is not inherently mean, just childish – an important moral distinction. He decides that it was right for Carlson to shoot Candy’s dog – a judgment call that leads George toward his own future decision about mercy killing. Slim interferes when Curley hits Lennie, when Curley is in the position to get George and Lennie fired, and when Curley wants to shoot Lennie. Most importantly, he reassures and comforts George in the final scene, telling him that he had to kill Lennie – it was the only thing a guy in his position could do.