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50 free Of Mice and Men trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Of Mice and Men trivia quiz covers John Steinbeck's 1937 novella from its opening by the river to its final shot. The easy questions are ones anyone who read it in school could answer: the two migrant workers at its centre, what Lennie dreams of tending, the town they fled, the one-handed swamper, and the poem that gave the book its title. The harder end is for Steinbeck readers and English teachers: the original working title, how much Candy offers toward the farm, why Crooks lives apart from the others, what the setter pup Toby did to the manuscript, the real man Steinbeck said Lennie was based on, the Broadway director of 1937, the composer who scored the 1939 film, the Steppenwolf pair who reunited for the 1992 movie, the opera and ballet versions, and where the book sits on the American Library Association's most-challenged lists. Slim, Carlson, Curley's vaseline glove and the meaning of Soledad get questions too. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the novella, its author and its adaptations before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our John Steinbeck, classic novels and The Grapes of Wrath quizzes next.
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Q 01Who wrote Of Mice and Men?
John Steinbeck
He based it on his own teenage years working alongside migrant farm workers.
Q 02In what year was Of Mice and Men published?
1937
It came two years before The Grapes of Wrath.
Q 03What is Lennie's surname?
Small
The irony is deliberate: he is a huge man with wide, sloping shoulders.
Q 04What is George's surname?
Milton
Steinbeck describes him as quick and defined, with restless eyes and a thin, bony nose.
Q 05What animals does Lennie dream of tending on the farm?
Rabbits
He loves soft things but pets them so hard he kills them.
Q 06Which town did George and Lennie flee before the story begins?
Weed
Lennie had grabbed a young woman's dress and would not let go, and a lynch mob formed.
Q 07The ranch is near which California town, whose name means solitude in Spanish?
Soledad
Steinbeck used the name to reinforce the theme of loneliness.
Q 08Which poem supplied the title Of Mice and Men?
To a Mouse
Burns is said to have composed it after his plough destroyed a mouse's nest at Mossgiel Farm.
Q 09Who wrote the poem that gave the novella its title?
Robert Burns
He wrote it in Scots in 1785, reportedly while still holding his plough.
Q 10What was Steinbeck's original title for the novella?
Something That Happened
He meant that nobody could really be blamed for the tragedy.
Q 11What happened to an early draft of the manuscript?
A setter pup chewed it up
The pup made confetti of about half the book one night.
Q 12What was the name of the pup that destroyed the draft?
Toby
Steinbeck said he was not sure the pup's judgement was wrong.
Q 13Steinbeck called the book a play-novelette; how is it structured?
Three acts of two chapters
He wanted a novel that could be played from its lines, or a play that read like a novel.
Q 21How does Lennie injure Curley during their fight?
Crushes his fist
George urges him on as Lennie defends himself.
Q 22How did Steinbeck describe Curley's wife when explaining her role?
A symbol, not a person
The other characters never call her anything but Curley's wife.
Q 23What did Curley's wife dream of becoming?
A movie star
She confesses her loneliness to Lennie in the barn.
Q 24How does Curley's wife die?
Q 14Roughly how many words long is the novella?
30,000
Steinbeck wanted a novel that could be played from its lines.
Q 15Which character has lost a hand and owns an old, blind dog?
Candy
He offers his life savings to join the pair on their farm.
Q 16How much money does the old swamper offer toward buying the farm?
$350
In return he asks to live with them; the trio expect to buy the farm at the end of the month.
Q 17Who shoots the old swamper's dog?
Carlson
The thick-bodied ranch hand does it with little sympathy.
Q 18What is the job of the ranch's prince, the man Curley respects?
Jerkline skinner
He drives the mule team and is the only man Curley treats with respect.
Q 19What does Curley keep on his left hand?
A glove filled with vaseline
The others call him handy, with some irony.
Q 20What was Curley's former occupation?
Semi-professional boxer
He dislikes larger men and immediately targets Lennie.
Lennie breaks her neck
She offers to let him stroke her hair, then panics at his strength.
Q 25Why is Crooks isolated from the other ranch hands?
He is black
He gets his name from his crooked back and lives in the stable.
Q 26What does Crooks ask to do on the dream farm?
Hoe a garden patch
He scorns the dream even as he asks to join it.
Q 27What does Lennie accidentally kill the day before Curley's wife dies?
His puppy
He kills it by stroking it too hard.
Q 28Who is the only character who fully understands why George shoots Lennie?
Slim
He leads George away to console him while the others look on baffled.
Q 29Which bird shifts from scenery to predator by the final chapter?
A heron
It returns to prey on curious snakes, symbolising dreams snatched away.
Q 30What did Steinbeck say the real Lennie did to a boss who fired his friend?
Stabbed him with a pitchfork
Steinbeck said the man was sent to an insane asylum, not to jail.