The Character Of Slim In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Many people strive to be kindhearted people, but everyone has their flaws. Steinbeck, author of the novella, Of Mice and Men, illustrates surprisingly real characters. Although he creates particularly authentic characters, he also creates one who seems to do no wrong. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, Slim is presented to the audience as a flat and static character. Steinbeck best represents Slim’s character where George decides to tell Slim what actually happened in Weed, where Slim is repeatedly shown and treated as a trusted adult-like figure to the men, therefore flat. Within the first few pages of the book, Slim is viewed as a trustworthy person. More specifically, when George reveals how Lennie gets “mixed up, and holds

Not too far from the scene where George decides to reveal Lennie’s mental disability, we see Slim showing empathy for Candy, as he offers him “any one of them pups you[he] want[s]”(Steinbeck 48). Since Slim is aware of what Candy is going through and how he’s feeling, he offers Candy any puppy he wants. Slim is a caring person , and we see through a great deal of indirect characterization, mostly the way he acts towards people. Slim takes consideration of Candy’s feeling’s, offers him something that will get him into better spirt’s, and reassures Candy that it is the right decision. These same behaviors are seen again, at the end. In the aftermath of the chaos caused by Lennie, George kills Lennie. After George has killed Lennie automatically he seems to regret his decision, and questions himself. Within seconds, Slim shows up and offers to buy George a drink and reassures George, saying that it was the only way, and “You hadda, George”(Steinbeck 107). Slim knows that George doubts himself, so he attempts to put George’s mind at ease. Slim is using the same caring ways and attitude with George that he used with Candy. As a result, we see no change whatsoever in Slim. Since Slim is seen showing no change, he is without a doubt static. From the word go the audience sees Slim as a responsible, caring, parent-like figure whose