The book Of Mice and Men was set in the depression of the 1930's in California in a place called Soledad. Men travelled around looking for any work they could find, they had to leave their families and homes just to make some money. Even firms and companies went bankrupt, these were depressing and desperate times, no hope and no future.
             Without dreams no one would have a reason to keep going.
             The character George is a small, quick man with well defined features. He is a migrant ranch worker, he dreams of one day saving enough money to buy his own place and being his own boss, many men in the depression dreamed of this.
             His only set-back is his mentally handicapped friend Lennie who he travels with and has been with since he promised Lennie's aunt Clara he would look after him after she died. Looking after Lennie stops George from working towards his dream and even prevents him from having a normal life of a rancher, because of this George and Lennie regularly fight. George yearns for companionship and he likes Lennie's company.
             The tension of having to look after Lennie and himself shows in George, He shows a wide variety of emotions during the novel, from anger to patience and then to sadness.
             Lennie is very slow and enormous. He is George's companion and he is the source of all of the novel's story, or he creates the story line. He is completely opposite to George, both mentally and physically. Lennie's seemingly innocence and helplessness and his childish actions, such as his desire to pet soft things, makes him likeable to the reader.
             Lennie's stupidity and carelessness cause him to accidentally harm and even kill animals and people, this creates trouble for both George and Lennie.
             Lennie is faithful to George he likes hearing about the dream that they have of owning a farm, although not liking in the same way as George. He understands the dream in a different way than George it is ...