In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Candy, Lennie, Crooks, and Curly's wife are all seen as four social outcasts as they each relate to a specific group in American Society. After reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and looking at these characters you can see that they are all social outcasts in someway. In Of Mice and Men the character Candy is an old ranch worker. Candy has been working on otheres farms for years, while working on one of these farms he lost one of his hands in a farm accident. Candy was seen as a outcast to the other rach hands just like Lennie, Crooks and Curly's wife. The reasons they are seen as outcast is different and is what seperated them into different groups in American Society that they can relate to. Candy is old and missing a hand this is what exclueds him from the otheres because he is seen as being outworn in his ability to function as a worker on the farm. Because of this it is hard for him to interact with society like the younger non-handicap ranchhands are able to. Candy's handicap is what causes him to be an outcast in the story. Candy is lonley because of his outcast statis even more so afther the loss of his dog that he has had for a long time. Because he is old, missing a hand and cant work much any more he thinks that when he cant work any more that he will be just trowen aside and not needed by any one. [Candy] said miserably, "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs." (3.222) In Of Mice and Men the character Lennie is big and has a diminished mental capacity. Lennie is s... ... middle of paper ... ...all very lonely each of them tries to make friends with the others because thay are all outcast. In this book each of these four relate to a specific group in American Society. Candy relates to the old, Lennie to the mentality disabled, Crooks to the African American, and Curly's wife to the women. Works Cited Shmoop Editorial Team. "Of Mice and Men Candy Quotes Page 6."Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Owens, Louis. "Of Mice and Men: The Dream of Commitment."Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 10 Dec. 2013 Zeitler, Michael. "isolation in Of Mice and Men."Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 10 Dec. 2013 Shmoop Editorial Team. "Of Mice and Men Lennie Small Quotes Page 4."Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.
Candy’s dog is very precious to him, not only because he had been with him ever since he was a pup but also because he could see himself in the dogs place after a very short period of time. He was getting old and would be of no use soon. Just like the dog, everyone would be eager to get rid of him. He had lost his hand at the ranch. He is disabled, both, physically and mentally.
Because of Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Lennie’s differences from most people on the ranch; these people are considered to be the main outcasts on the ranch in California. As the novel shows, an outcast can be any person who stands out from the crowd. Although everyone is somewhat an outcast; because they are all different from each other, these three characters in the story are
Curly is the bosses son and takes full advantage of it by picking on the other workers especially Lennie. He likes to lie and gets angry easily. He's not very confident especially in his wife because he thinks that she's cheating on him.
In conclusion, all of these characters from “Of Mice and Men” are lonely in their own ways. Candy is old and he lost his only friend, his dog. Crooks is segregated from the society because he is black and not allowed to be with the whites. Also last but not least, Curley’s wife is lonely because she is a woman and she is born with that. In our society, right now, women have a lot of rights, from getting jobs to voting. Blacks are no longer segregated from Whites, and our President, Barack Obama is black himself. Also, old people are respected a lot because we now understand, what they have been through.
Candy?s disability separates him from society, an example of Curley being set aside is when everybody else goes to town he is left in the barn with Crooks, Lennie, and Curley?s wife. Candy?s only friendship was with his old, smelly dog. Candy?s dog was a symbol of himself (old, and useless). When Carlson kills Candy?s dog, he kills Candy on the inside as well. Curley?s wife had the most pathetic and depressing life.
This aspect is reflected by use of the time period’s race standards, as revealed in the following quote. Crooks whined in sorrow, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody.” (Steinbeck 73). This quote suggests that Crooks’ exposure of discrimination has forced his isolation, preventing him from a healthy amount of human interaction and possibly driving mental illness. The indifference to women back then also donates to the effects of isolation and loneliness in the novel, as seen through Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife yells in exasperation, “Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (Steinbeck 87). This quote illustrates Curley’s wife’s frustration and anger of being shunned by the other people on the ranch, and the lack of her actual name, only being referred to as “Curley’s wife”, may also reveal her as being considered Curley’s property rather than spouse. In the novel, the characteristic of inevitability of age contributes to the effects of isolation and need for companionship. After Candy’s dog is shot, it’s revealed that Candy faces age discrimination. Candy comments in a monotone voice: “Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunkhouses they’ll put me on the county,” (Steinbeck 60). This example shows that Candy is aware of how useless he is in the eyes of the other men on the ranch due to his age, and will face adversity of being
One of John Steinbeck’s most famous works tells the tale of the continuing troubles of George and Lennie, two opposite personalities who form an unexpected relationship. The book takes place on a southern farm in the 1930’s where the two friends plan to save enough money to buy their dream—a piece of land for themselves. In the story, there are several characters with “disabilities,” both physical and figurative in the meaning of the word. Lennie is an ignorant, overweight gentleman, Crooks is black in a predominately white environment, Candy is crippled due to an accident on the farm, and Curly’s wife is accused of being overly provocative. Curly, the boss’ son, often quarantines his wife in their home because he wants to keep her his own; she is a very attractive young female on a farm with mostly male workers. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the characters in Chapter 4 are brought together in Crook’s room by the fact that they are all outcasts, but instead of taking the opportunity to become friends, they begin to take advantage of each other’s handicaps and hurl insults at one another.
Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Lennie could not reach their potential because of the discrimination against them. In Depression era, people discriminated African-American people by using derogatory terms, physically assaulting them and limiting their socialization. They discriminated women by calling names and making offensive assumptions. The mentally disabled people were target of brutal actions, stereotypes, and betrayals. Steinbeck was warning to people not to discriminate others by showing various conflicts and tragic ending that caused by discrimination.
All in all John Steinbeck included many stereotypes in the book “Of Mice and Men”, including; Lennie as mean and dumb and Curley with small man syndrome. Lennie was stereotyped as mean, because of his actions in weed. Curley was stereotyped with small man syndrome because he was small and angry. In addition, Lennie was also stereotyped as dumb, because he did not know right from wrong. Therefore, people will forever stereotype other
In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck explores human relationships through characters who are barely fleshed out beyond the boundary of a stereotype. Many of the minor characters even have names which reflect their status as a symbol of their position rather than thinking, feeling people. Crooks, the African American stable buck, represents the "crooked" thinking of the majority toward other races during the time period while Curley's wife represents only that- the wife of a man. Her character serves to show the place of women in a man's society. Likewise, the two main characters, George and Lennie, each serve as a symbol of psychological and physical traits which complement each other to show how important human relationships are, regardless of the traits a person may possess. All human beings develop relationships with others because those relationships fill particular needs. Those needs may be physical, economic, psychological, or social.
To begin, Lennie has this big dream of George and him living on their own land, being their own bosses, and tending to his own rabbits. Lennie’s major obstacle in achieving his dream is that he is slower than most people for his age. Lennie acts like a child making George the responsible adult. Lennie also listens to whatever George says because Lennie looks up to George almost like he is his brother. Lennie also has a tendency to forget what he is told:
One of the men, Lennie, unfortunately has a mental deficiency which impairs his ability to
" Bloom's Literature. Ed. Facts On File, Inc.
The central element of this novella is its symbolism. This novella has plenty of symbolical forms, such as people, creed, and some of the animals. Candy has several terms of symbolism, for example his disability is a symbol of the migrant workers who are just literally forgotten about, they are forgotten when they are no use to the owners. Candy’s dog is a symbol of a life only for advantage to others Lennie also for shadows this, he is belittled of his mind but enormously commented for his strength. Also he is compelled to lie about the fight he had with Curley, this is a symbol of typical male society in the, “Depression era”.
Loneliness is an issue that is present throughout both the film and novel. One example of this is how when George and Lennie arrive at the ranch four characters, the boss, Candy, Crooks, and Slim all comment on the suspicious nature of two guys traveling together as this is not a norm in that time period. Most of the character in Of Mice and Men would probably be better of if they had a friend or companion to travel around with. Slim says at the start of Of Mice and Men "I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean.” This is a good example of a reason why it is important to have contact with another human. George and Lennie are not the only characters who struggle with loneliness. Although present in all the characters to some degree, the theme of loneliness is most noticeably present in Candy, Crooks and Curly’s wife. They al struggle against loneliness is there own ways. Candy use to take comfort to his dog. Crooks is isolated because of his skin colour and he is not allowed into the bunkhouse with the others, and is not to associate with them. To distract him from the loneliness he reads books and works. Curly’s wife is the only female on the ranch. Her husband, Curly forbids everyone from talking to her. She try's to overcome her loneliness by flirting with the other men on the ranch. Steinbeck reinforces the theme of loneliness in subtle and not so subtle ways in both film and