Lennie is a victim of the “Great Depression” this is why he has to keep roaming around with George in search of work.
He and George are also victims of the times they are living in, not many people will trust them because they go around with each other. When the boss of the ranch first sees them trying to get jobs together, he is suspicious of them, he thinks he is being scammed, and is very wary. This is because he only sees men travelling alone. The only person who trusts them straight away is Slim. In the time of the “Great Depression” most workers drifted about by themselves. George and Lennie say that they’re different because they look out for each other and they have plans to by a piece of land. George tells Lennie they look out for each other mainly to comfort him but his dream is to own a piece of land.
Lennie is a liability to George and Lennie knows it, “if I was alone I could live so easy.” George has to act as a parental figure towards Lennie because of Lennie’s learning disabilities. He disciplines him, “You gonna give me that mouse or do I have to sock you?”.
Lennie is a victim of himself. His learning disability leads to his forgetfulness; he doesn’t think properly about what he does. George knows this and always gives him easy instructions and makes him keep repeating them.
When Lennie does forget George gets very frustrated with him. The frustration sometimes turns to bullying. We know that George used to attack Lennie and make him do things like tell him to jump in a river because he knew Lennie would never react or get angry. “I’ve beat the hell outta him…he never lifted a finger against me.” The irony is that the one person Lennie trusts, used to be guilty of victimising him.
Lennie is often compared to an animal “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water.” Lennie does not have much common sense, he relies on basic instincts.
Curley is a victim of his insecurity. He is short and doesn’t like it, he wears high heeled shoes. Curley worries about what people think about him; he fears that because he’s short, people might think he is weak. Curly is overly concerned with his image: “like the boss, he wore high heeled boots.”
No one on the ranch likes Curley, not even his wife. When Curley attacks Lennie, everyone gangs up on Curley, “Candy joined the attack with joy.” The attack on Curley started when he acted aggressively towards Slim; every one respects Slim and he is portrayed like god.
Curley is a victim because he doesn’t have the respect of anyone. He thinks he will earn it by showing off. He likes everyone knowing he was a successful boxer. Curley probably started boxing to prove him self to people. Although he says, “No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me”, everyone in the room was laughing at him. Lennie was the biggest one there, so Curley picks on him in a vein attempt to earn people’s respect by showing off his strength. Curley’s boastfulness shows him as a victim because it reveals his sense of inferiority.
Curley shows off his wife as if she was a piece of jewellery, for instance, he wears a glove full of Vaseline and tells people “he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife.” Perhaps Curley feels the need to show off his pretty wife to gain power and superiority over the others.
Curley is a bully and a coward. He will not try to fight someone who will stand up to him. The best example of this is when he started on Slim, yet apologised when Slim stood up to him, “Well, I didn’t mean nothing, Slim.” He then moved on to Carlson, “you wanta step outside.” After this Curley saw Lennie, sensing Lennie’s vulnerability, Curley attacked him: “Come on, ya big bastard… I’ll show you who’s yella”. When Lennie finally defends himself, Curley is described as ‘a flopping like a fish on a line…white and shrunken…’. By the end of this episode, Curley’s humiliation is total: “He avoided looking at Lennie.”
Curley’s wife is a victim of isolation, few people on the ranch will speak to her. She is seen as a danger by most people, “Don’t you even take a look at that bitch” George knows Curley would attack Lennie as soon as he gets a reason and wants to keep his job.
Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch, she is isolated from other women and she isn’t allowed to talk to any men apart from Curley. Being the only woman makes her isolation worse.
Curley forces her to stay in the house, he thinks he owns her, “‘You seen a girl around here?’ he demanded angrily.” Curley tries to have complete control of her. Curley’s wife does rebel against him by leaving the house and by flirting with every man on the ranch, “ ‘nobody can’t blame a person for lookin.’” She knows she’s not allowed to, and that is why she always asks guiltily where Curley is. This shows Curley’s wife is not a complete victim. She is aware of her power over men: “[She] leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward.”
Curley’s wife regrets a lot. When she was younger she was told she could be an actress, “I met a guy an’ he was in the pitchers… he was gonna put me in the movies.” She also says, “Maybe I will yet”. She doesn’t think she will be famous but she tells Lennie she might still get into the movies. Like George, Lennie and Candy, Curley’s wife is a victim of unattainable dreams and lost chances.
She blames her mother for not being famous, “‘I never got that that letter,’ she said. ‘I always thought my ol’ lady stole it.’” She thinks her Mother is the only reason why she’s not famous.
Like Curley and George, Curley’s wife at one stage shows she is capable f victimising another: “She turned to [Crooks] in scorn ‘Listen, Nigger…You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?’”
Curley’s wife didn’t marry Curley for love; she was desperate and wanted to move away from her mother. She partly did it out of spite. She regrets it now, “’I can’t talk to nobody but Curley’” she is quite scared of him, and that is why she asks where he is so she knows when to go back in the house.
Curley’s wife is a victim of an unhappy marriage; she only married him because she was desperate. “’I don’t like Curley’” Lennie is the first person to hear this; he is the first person to listen to her and that is why she opens up to him.
Curley’s wife is only ever called ‘Curley’s wife’, she isn’t given a name. It makes her sound like a possession of Curley.
Most of the women in the novel are on the edge and never developed: Aunt Clara, the old lady whose farm Gorge wants to buy and the prostitutes. Of these, the happiest sounding are the prostitutes.
One the first things said about Candy, was, “pointed with his right arm, and out of the sleeve came a round, stick-like wrist, but no hand.” It is a very visible handicap. Candy is weakened by having one hand because he works on a ranch that is mainly manual labour. He is also an old man which is another weakness. Candy points out his weakness quite a lot, “‘I ain’t much good with only one hand…’” He puts himself down. He knows others think he’s useless.
Candy is fortunate that he does work even though he is old and only has one hand. In the time the book was based, the ranch owner could have sacked him when he lost his hand, and in most places that is probably what would have happened. Candy kept his job and was given $250 compensation. This makes him a lot less of a victim, because if he was sacked he would never be given another job, who would employ an old man with one hand?
Candy is isolated from most people on the ranch; his closest friend was a dog. When he is talking to George and Lennie about Curley he is scared of anyone else hearing, “‘don’t tell Curley I said none of this.’” He doesn’t talk to people who he has known for a long time but the two new comers, George and Lennie are told in confidence, he is opening up to people who he hardly know, it shows how lonely he is: “The swamper warmed to his gossip” He is using gossip to reach out from his isolation. Gossiping about other people makes him feel better.
Candy is a victim because he is so vulnerable. He was prepared to give all of his money to George and Lennie so they will employ him. He thinks he will be fired soon and he doesn’t want to out live his usefulness, “‘When they can me here I wish somebody would shoot me’” To Candy death would be better than doing nothing, when he gets fired he would probably go on the county which was a meagre system of state benefits Most people would just have to go homeless with no money. Candy compares himself to his dog: Candy’s dog was old useless and people didn’t want it around so it was shot.
Candy has no confidence, “‘I ain’t much good with on’y one hand…”
He can not stand up for himself, “‘Whyn’t you shoot him, Candy?’ the old man squirmed uncomfortably. ‘Well hell! I had him so long.’” Candy doesn’t want to shoot the dog but doesn’t say. He makes up excuses like “I’m used to having him around” he doesn’t say no he’s my dog and I don’t want him shot. He is a victim of powerlessness. Candy waits for other people to stand up for him but no one does so he lets Carlson shoot his dog. This makes him more isolated, the dog was his closest companion. When Candy is first introduced the dog is with him.
Candy knows he can’t stand up for himself and is frustrated by his weakness, “‘I ought to have shot that dog myself, George. I should’nt ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.” It is also an example of his isolation; he calls Carlson a stranger even though he lives with him. He regrets letting Carlson shoot his dog.
Crooks like Candy has a visible handicap, he has a crooked back so he has to walk around bent over. He does all manual work which makes him into a victim like Candy.
He is a victim of racial abuse, he is the only black man on the ranch, and he is living in racist times. He is hardly ever called by his name, he is just called nigger, “‘ya see the stable buck’s a nigger.’” Most of the time everyone says it without trying to be offensive, it is just what they called black people.
Crooks is not allowed in the bunk house with everyone else, he has to stay in the stable. He is isolated from everyone.
Nearly everything in Crook’s room is broken; Crooks is a broken man: he is hunched over because of his back problems and bullied because he is black and he is a victim in many ways.
The only things in his room that isn’t broken or thrown on the floor are his glasses. They are his power and what make him in some ways superior to the others, they are precious to him as is his ability to read. Crooks reads more intellectual books than the others. He is a victim because, although he is very intelligent, he isn’t given any respect because he is “jus’ a nigger”. Crooks is a victim of racism.
Crooks’ room has a lot of books, this shows he is intelligent. It also shows his isolation, the other men on the ranch play cards together and socialise, he is by himself reading, he knows how isolated he is, “‘books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody.”
Crooks reads about his rights, this is kind of what keeps him going, like Lennie has his rabbits and Candy has his land.
Crook’s imposed solitude has made him jealous of the relationship Lennie and George have, this is why he uses George to bully Lennie, “‘s’pose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more.’” He enjoys this because he never gets to have power over a white man; the victim becomes the bully in this scene.
In conclusion I think that most of the characters are victims in some way. The main exception is Slim, he isn’t greatly affected by the things that make the other characters victims. At times the victim becomes the victimiser, but this is short lived. Most if not all the characters in “Of Mice and Men” are victims of powerlessness, financial hardship, job insecurity and loneliness, and some characters are victims of things beyond their control.
