Who is George?

As we find out right from the beginning of the book, George, is one of the main characters of the novel and holds great importance within the text. George has a defined personality which may be due to some of his peculiar characteristics. The main one of these being his appearance which is described right from the very start of the book. "The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose." Immediately we get the impression that because of the height and size of this man he will be timid and shy, however George turns out to be the complete opposite to this. Confident. Intelligent. Controlling, bringing a complete contrast of his traveler friend Lennie.

George Milton out of the 'Of Mice and Men' movie

George has a tendency throughout the book to be short-tempered, constantly losing his cool and snapping at Lennie "Well we ain't got any, George exploded." This allows the reader to emphasize and feel sympathy towards Lennie, but George is always quick to apologize showing that he is a loving and caring friend, and some may even say a 'devoted brother'. George fantasies quite a lot about what life would be like without Lennie "God a'mighty, if i was alone i could live so easy", which makes us ask the question, Why doesn't he just leave? but even with this doubt in his mind his commitment to keeping Lennie safe never falters which i think may be down to Aunt Clara and something she may have said to George before they left. George is most certainly impatient and stern but it's clear that his main concern is protecting Lennie and keeping him from danger because his opening sentence begins "Lennie! For god's sake Lennie don't drink so much. You gonna be sick like you was last night."

At the beginning of the novel George has a strong belief of their dream of "Livin' off the fatta the lan'" and tells it to Lennie like a bed time story starting to believe in it more and more which may sway some people to thinking George is a bit of an idealist. This is because of their longing to be free of work and bosses and live independently with out having to be told what to do, but also for safety and comfort away from danger like the little miss perfect wife of Curly and Curly himself who both always seem to be looking for trouble...