Of Mice and Men: Quiz Questions

Of Mice and Men theatre materials, including a playbill, script, tickets, and letters, all held in the Pierpont Morgan Library collection.

1) What did Lennie forget in Chapter One?

A) Why he and George had to run from their last job.
B) How to tie his shoes.
C) Not to clutch mice so tightly.
D) That George wasn't his cousin.
*Correct Answer is A

2) What would Aunt Clara always give to Lennie when he was little?

A) Chocolate
B) Spankings
C) Mice
D) Lemon Drops
*Correct Answer is C

3) Why did George tell Lennie not to drink the water?

A) Because they were trespassing on someone else's land.
B) Lennie got sick from drinking some water the other night.
C) There were dead fish in the water.
D) George wanted all of the water for himself.
*Correct Answer is B

4) In the beginning of the story, what kind of animal does Lennie keep accidentally killing?

A) Grasshoppers
B) Dogs
C) Mice
D) Fireflies
*Correct Answer is C

5) Where did Lennie and George work before they came to Soledad?

A) Weed, California
B) Colorado Springs, Colorado
C) Soledad, California
D) Los Angeles, California
*Correct Answer is A

6) What dream are George and Lennie working toward?

A) Making enough money to leave the country.
B) Both want to find wives and settle down.
C) Buying a piece of land all their own with rabbits.
D) Owning their own cattle ranch.
*Correct Answer is C

7) Why do George and Lennie feel so lucky to have one another?

A) Because the life of most ranch hands is a lonely one.
B) Neither has any family that is still alive.
C) Protection in numbers.
D) They can combine their money to buy nicer things.
*Correct Answer is A

8) What physical characteristic is unique about Candy?

A) He had a peg leg.
B) His face was scarred.
C) He was physically imposing.
D) He was missing a hand.
*Correct Answer is D

9) Why was the boss suspicious of Lennie?

A) Because Lennie was so big.
B) Because he had talked with Lennie's previous boss.
C) Because George did not let Lennie speak for himself.
D) Lennie seemed angry and hostile.
*Correct Answer is C

10) Why does Curley not like men who are bigger than him?

A) It makes him feel inferior.
B) He thinks that they are unintelligent.
C) It makes him want to fight.
D) He is afraid that his wife will run away with them.
*Correct Answer is A

11) Why does Curley wear a glove filled with Vaseline?

A) So that he does not get blisters during work.
B) For his wife.
C) So that when he fights, his hands are cushioned by the Vaseline.
D) Because he has a terrible hangnail.
*Correct Answer is B

12) What does it mean when the workers say that Curley's wife has "the eye"?

A) She had a glass eye.
B) She had the ability of foresight.
C) She was looking to men other than her husband for physical affirmation and satisfaction.
D) She had a turned eye.
*Correct Answer is C

13) Why did Slim drown four puppies from his dog's litter?

A) Because the mother would have been unable to care for all the puppies in the litter.
B) The four puppies that he drowned were runts.
C) They did not drown; they accidently fell into the horses' watering trough.
D) He was a vicious person.
*Correct Answer is A

14) What incident in their past made George stop playing jokes on Lennie?

A) Lennie told him how much it hurt his feelings.
B) Lennie almost drowned because of the joke.
C) George and Lennie's mutual friend drowned because of the joke.
D) Lennie almost accidentally killed George.
*Correct Answer is B

15) How does Steinbeck portray the life of a typical ranch hand?

A) Exciting
B) Difficult
C) Easy
D) Lonely
*Correct Answer is D

16) What did Candy's dog do before he got old?

A) He was a stray and Candy adopted him.
B) He was a show dog.
C) He was a sheepdog.
D) He was the boss's dog when he was young.
*Correct Answer is C

17) How does the death of Candy's dog foreshadow what will happen to Lennie?

A) Candy's dog is killed out of mercy, just like Lennie is.
B) Carlson kills Candy's dog and later on kills Lennie.
C) Candy's dog is killed cruelly, just as Lennie is at the end of the story.
D) Steinbeck shows that people who are not useful should be killed.
* Correct Answer is A

18) According to Whit, how did he know that George and Lennie were really there to work?

A) Because they had work slips.
B) Because out of all the men, they worked the hardest.
C) Because the boss said that they were there to work.
D) Because they came during the week, instead of on the weekend.
*Correct Answer is B

19) What kind of establishment does Old Susy run, from what the text implies?

A) A restaurant
B) A bar
C) A brothel
D) A hotel
*Correct Answer is C

20) Why does Curley get suspicious every time Slim is not with the other men?

A) He is afraid that his wife is having an affair with Slim.
B) He is afraid that Slim is trying to find another place to work.
C) He is afraid of Slim stealing the best horses on the ranch.
D) He is only curious, not really worried.
*Correct Answer is A

21) Why did Lennie resist fighting Curley at first?

A) Because he was afraid that Curley would hurt him.
B) Because George told him to avoid fighting Curley at all costs.
C) Because he did not have any boxing gloves.
D) He did not want to fight Curley because he thought Curley was a nice person.
*Correct Answer is B

22) What happened to Lennie's puppy?

A) It lived to be a useful sheepdog.
B) It died from being taken away from its mother too early.
C) It died because Lennie accidentally strangled it to death.
D) George killed the puppy after Lennie died because it reminded him of Lennie too much.
*Correct Answer is C

23) Who killed Curley's wife?

A) Curley
B) Lennie
C) George
D) Crooks
* Correct Answer is B

24) Who killed Lennie?

A) Lennie
B) Curley
C) George
D) Slim
* Correct Answer is C

25) Lennie's death was an act of:

A) Pity
B) Anger
C) Indifference
D) Mercy
* Correct Answer is D

26) Who stole Carlson's gun?

A) Curley
B) Lennie
C) George
D) Crooks
* Correct Answer is C