Just before her death, we see her true character and we see that under the entire facade, she was just an innocent and vulnerable woman who didn’t want to be lonely anymore. ‘And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face.’ She ached for attention because she never got any; she’s had no support from her mum or Curley. The actor who found her gave a hope that no-one else did, not even her family, a hope that she could make it to Hollywood and be somebody. She’s disadvantaged in more ways than one but underneath, she’s just a pretty and simple woman who’d just been misjudged.
An additional disadvantaged character is Crooks. Through his character, we understand the treatment of blacks in America at that time. He is made to be isolated because of his colour and is deprived of a good home. ‘...a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn.’ He’s treated like an animal as he’s made to live with them. ‘...Came the sound of moving horses.’ Crooks lives in enforced solitude and is not accepted by the other ranch men. ‘The boss gives him hell when he’s mad.’ He insists on his right to be alone even though he dislikes it. ‘You got no right to come in my room...Nobody got any right in here but me.’ He says this to protect his feelings so that he doesn’t give people another reason to taunt him.
Before he came to the ranch, he had a good life with his father. ‘My old man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres.’ Now he’s reduced to being an outcast. He’s also disadvantaged because he’s disabled. ‘His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine...’ He has a hope that his back will get better but in the back of his mind, he knows that won’t happen. ‘...Poured a few drops of the liniment...to rub again.’ Crooks owns a lot of books, ‘And he had books too...’ which shows he’s quite intelligent, he also owns the California Civil Code, which shows, that he’s concerned about his rights.
As soon as Lennie enters his room, Crooks is not happy, ‘...he stiffened and a scowl came on his face.’ This is because of all the bad experiences he has had with white men. He’s had to fight one of the men to come in to their room at Christmas. ‘Little skinner name of Smitty took after the nigger.’ Through the use of ‘nigger’, we see that men like Crooks were continually degraded both physically and verbally. Crooks informs Lennie of his poor treatment on the ranch. ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody...I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.’ In saying this, he’s referring to himself, not only a victim of racial discrimination but also the cruelty of loneliness.
Crooks is sceptical about the land, however, wants to be in on it after Candy confirms everything. ‘You God Damn right we’re gonna do it.’ Crooks’ dream gets crushed when Curley’s Wife comes in. Crooks tries to state his rights, ‘You got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room,’ but Curley’s Wife is not content with a ‘nigger’ speaking to her like that as she believes she in superior to him. ‘I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ After this, Crooks realises that he will never be able to join in on their farm. Crooks also experiences the emotional harshness that most of the other characters suffer.
Candy is also included as a disadvantaged character as he is excluded from the social life of the ranch workers because of his age, disability and demeaning job. His lack of status is shown when he is powerless to save his dog from getting shot. ‘...Candy said softly and hopelessly, ‘Awright – take ‘im.’ When Candy loses his dog, he loses a big part of him as his dog has been with him for years. ‘A shot sounded in the distance.’
Candy’s dog was very old, ‘...a drag-footed sheepdog, gray of muzzle, and with pale, blind old eyes.’ Carlson wanted to shoot him because he was worthless; this shows the harshness of the environment, that if something’s not useful anymore, get rid of it. After the death of his dog, Candy finds it hard to move on; until he hears George and Lennie talk about their plans for the dream farm, then he wants to be in on it. ‘S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hunderd an’ fifty bucks I’d put in.’ Candy offering to join in on the dream, makes it more of a reality because of the amount of money he has.
Everything falls apart though when Lennie kills Curley’s Wife and Candy knows that the dream is over. ‘...Candy dropped his head and looked down at the hay. He knew.’ At this point Candy is very unfortunate and now he doesn’t know where he will end up. He lashes out at Curley’s dead wife as a last resort of blaming somebody for the failure of their plan. ‘Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up.’ This means that everyone knew that she was trouble from the start and they were just waiting for her to slip up. Candy is distraught as he knows it’s too late for him to achieve his dream.
Another disadvantaged character is George. He is Lennie’s carer and as Lennie has a mental disability, he is hard to look after. He forgets many things, ‘I forgot,’ Lennie said softly,’ and cannot be relied on to take care of things. ‘...I musta lost it.’ George is constantly reminding Lennie of these things. George could’ve had an easy life without Lennie as he keeps slipping up. ‘You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get.’
George had to run for his life with Lennie, away from the lynch mob after Lennie messed up in Weed. ‘They run us out of Weed.’ After finally having found a job at the ranch, Lennie crushes Curley’s hand and they nearly lose that job too if it wasn’t for Slim blackmailing Curley. ‘I won’t tell,’ said Curley.’ George can’t settle down at one place because of Lennie, he always has to go and fix Lennie’s mistakes, on top of making the decisions of where to go and what to do.
George had always known that Curley’s wife was dangerous and ‘jailbait’. He could have prevented Lennie from killing her, especially as he knew of Lennie’s fascination with her. ‘Lennie watched her, fascinated.’ He’ll have to live with that guilt forever. He’ll always be thinking what could’ve happened if he had stopped Lennie. ‘I think I knowed from the very first.’ His decision to kill Lennie after everything they’ve been through shows George disadvantaged because in killing Lennie, George sacrifices his own dreams and happiness for the sake of his friends comfort. ‘The hand shook violently...He pulled the trigger.’
George says that Lennie’s good for company but we know he’s more than that. George relies on Lennie for companionship and with him gone, George’s future is now uncertain as Lennie kept him from going astray. For the first time, George has to learn to go by in the world by himself as he no longer has his best friend there and he’ll have to deal will the unfriendly and lonely environment of a migrant worker and the insecurity of life ahead of him.
To conclude, there are many characters on the ranch that are disadvantaged, however there are four who have dealt with the worst. They’ve all had a dream, which at times, seemed just out of reach, however in reality, it’s never as easy as it seems. They’ve all failed to accomplish what they had set their hearts on, proving that they are deprived of a fortunate life.