Shortcomings In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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We all see our own shortcomings and feel that we must work harder in order to be accepted in today’s society. This helps us to easily empathize with many characters and their longing to be equal with others. Throughout John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” Candy is shown to be a man that is easily swayed by the opinions of a crowd and wants to be recognized as useful by others. In chapter three, George and Lennie begin plotting buying their own land. Candy overhears them and jumps in. “He leaned forward eagerly. ‘S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and howth garden some. How’d that be?’” (Steinbeck, pg 59). Candy is immediately willing to give all that he has to help out Lennie and George in buying their ranch. He also has a pretty serious physical handicap, missing one hand and because of this he feels that he must offer more. Rather than just “wanting a stake in their new land” he wants to be included and make a contribution to their plot. It is very easy to relate emotionally to Candy. He is giving up all he has in order to get a chance to do something big and almost …show more content…

Because of this he decides to make his offer even better. He goes on to say, “‘I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off… ‘“ (Steinbeck, pg 59). You can hear the determination in Candy’s voice, to be acknowledged as someone useful and helpful. He wants to be important, with or without his physical disabilities. His characteristics are very common to us as we'll which makes it very easy to sympathize with him. We often feel that we must offer up a lot at the chance of having or doing something big, we will agree to everything that someone needs in order to fit in, even when those people are not making a conscious effort to pressure

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