The Seven Deadly Sins

From the seven main characters in the novella, we have found a connection between these characters and the seven deadly sins. Whether it be a link to the sin itself or the animal or colour, all the main characters have a certain link to each sin. In this way, Steinbeck has depicted that each character has somewhat of a flaw - even the "prince of the ranch", Slim - which conveys the idea that no person is perfect.

Pride	Violet	Horse	Slim
Envy	Green	Dog	Candy
Wrath	Orange	Bear	Lennie
Sloth	Light Blue	Goat	George
Greed	Yellow	Frog	Crooks
Gluttony	Pink	Pig	Curley
Lust	Red	Cow	Curley's Wife

SLIM

• Slim has an esteemed position on the ranch and had pride in himself 
• He walked with a "sense only achieved by royalty" and violet/purple has royal connotations 
• Slim was an archetypal cowboy and links to western stories, depicting cowboys who owned horses (linking to the animal reference to the sin, pride) 

CANDY

• Candy is envious over the other workers who have close relationships as he had lost the one relationship he cherished so dearly, the relationship with his dog. 

• Also, Candy is envious over the workers as they are youthful, which could link to the American Dream as this was achieved by laborious work, that was hard to achieve as he was an "old swamper". 

LENNIE

• Lennie often inflicts pain on others throughout the novella, e.g. breaking Curley's hand 
• Steinbeck describes Lennie with reference to him being similar to a bear as he often was "dragging his feet, the way a bear drags his paws"

GEORGE

• He may be considered a lazy person as he often relied on Lennie to take care of any hard work. 
• George also wore "denim trousers" and a "denim coat", which is blue in colour. This colour could reflect his melancholic feelings as it is likely that he will never achieve the American Dream, no matter how close he is to achieving it. 

CROOKS

• Crooks may have been considered someone to be greedy as he is in close reference to the subject of greed
• His face is described to "light up with pleasure" when being "greedy" for the pain of others - as he has been through a lot of pain as he is a black man who lived in the 1940's, who would have been discriminated, segregated and treated poorly due to his race.

CURLEY

• Pink is a colour with feminine connotations and throughout the novella, Curley is described by Steinbeck in a feminine manner, such as having "high-heeled boots" 

CURLEY'S WIFE

• Curley's Wife is constantly associated with the colour red, e.g. "rouged lips". The colour red has several links to lust and love, which are factors that are represented by Curley's Wife during the novella.