'This was Slim, the jerkline skinner. His hatchet face was ageless. He might have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.' - In this passage from Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays Slim as wise. Which words convey this impression?

Who are the most memorable characters from fiction? All readers have a favorite, a person who seems as real as the people they see every day. In some cases, a character can seem even more real. Think of Atticus Finch, Scout, Huckleberry Finn, Scrooge - it can be hard to believe these people are purely the invention of their authors.