Quote 1
Slim looked through George and beyond him. "Ain't many guys travel around together," he mused. "I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other." (2.179)
If being together is so great, you'd think that more guys would team up. (After all, in movies characters always die when you go off alone.) But they don't. Is it more dangerous to be together? In this world, it just might be.
Quote 2
Slim sat in silence for a moment. "Didn't hurt the girl none, huh?" he asked finally.
"Hello no. He just scared her. I'd be scared too, if he grabbed me. But he never hurt her. He jus' wanted to touch that red dress, like he wants to pet them pups all the time."
"He ain't mean," said Slim. "I can tell a mean guy from a mile off." (3.28-30)
Slim is our Wise Old Master, so if he says Lennie isn't "mean," then it must be true. He's just dumb. (Fun etymology Brain Snack: "in-nocent" essentially means "free of harm," since "nocere" means "to harm" in Latin. The more you know!)
Quote 3
Slim had not moved. His calm eyes followed Lennie out of the door. "Jesus," he said. "He's jes' like a kid, ain't he."
"Sure, he's jes like a kid. There ain't no more harm in him than a kid neither, except he's so strong." (3.44-45)
Uh, we don't know what middle school Slim and George went to, but where we're from, kids can be plenty mean—and mean plenty of harm.
Quote 4
Slim nodded. "We might," he said. "If we could keep Curley in, we might, But Curley's gonna want to shoot 'im. Curley's still mad about his hand. An' s'pose they lock him up an' strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain't no good, George." (5.97)
Being locked up in a cage is no good for Lennie, but aren't all the farm hands trapped in some way? They might not be in cages, but they're stuck all the same. (Still, we're pretty sure that Steinbeck isn't suggesting that we euthanize all itinerant workers.)
Quote 5
Slim sat in silence for a moment. "Didn't hurt the girl none, huh?" he asked finally.
"Hell no. He just scared her. I'd be scared too, if he grabbed me. But he never hurt her. He jus' wanted to touch that red dress, like he wants to pet them pups all the time."
"He ain't mean," said Slim. "I can tell a mean guy from a mile off." (3.28-30)
And here's the question: does it matter? To be truly just, do we have to take intention into consideration—or is it the action that counts? Deep thoughts, Mr. Steinbeck.
Quote 6
Slim sighed. "Well, I guess we got to get him…" (5.93)
Crushing a man's hand under extreme provocation is one thing; killing a woman is another. Even Slim admits that Lennie has to be brought to some sort of justice—but not the justice that Curley wants, because that's no justice at all.
Quote 7
Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. "Never you mind," said Slim. "A guy got to sometimes." (6.96)
Tack on another role for Slim: priest. He's essentially absolving George of the sin of murder here, saying that it was the right—i.e., the just—thing to do.
Quote 8
"She slang her pups last night," said Slim. "Nine of ‘em. I drowned four of ‘em right off. She couldn’t feed that many." (2.186)
Slim doesn't sentimentalize the natural world. He knows that the dog can't nurse nine puppies, so he kills five of them to save the others. There's no moral lesson here, unless it's that a man's "gotta," sometimes.