Indirect Characterization In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck’s main theme is loneliness. Every character in the book is lonely. Through the loneliness, there is one character who understands more than others: Slim. Slim fits the archetype of a wise man, or a sage. Archetypes are made to show common traits in characters. Slim is wise; he understands things that other characters do not. Slim is spoken highly of, even named prince of the ranch by the other characters. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays Slim with traits that fit the archetype of a wise man, such as sympathy, leadership, and his ability to understand. In Of Mice and Men, Slim is the leader. Everyone listens to what he says, and he listens to what everyone else says. Not only does he understand how others feel or what they say, he also shows sympathy unlike other characters, such as Curley or Carlson. Readers can see these traits displayed through direct and indirect characterization. In the novella it says, “Slim …show more content…
Although indirect characterization is important, direct characterization is important too. Direct characterization is when the author directly tells the reader about the character. It is often easier to understand traits when the author directly gives them. For example, “His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love” (Steinbeck 33). This quote is describing the authority and leadership Slim owns. Regardless of the topic on hand, Slim will have the final say. An example of sympathy and kindness is, “’Slim’s a jerkline skinner. Hell of a nice fella’” (Steinbeck 28). Candy is describing Slim in this quote. Steinbeck is directly telling the readers that Slim is a nice person, through Candy. Another example would be “’Candy, you can have any one of them pups you want’” (Steinbeck 48). This is showing that Slim is sympathetic towards Candy because Candy’s dog is to be