However, Candy is not a typical representation of migrants, like Carlson and Slim, due to his age and the companionship that he has with his dog. Candy is not just a ‘cripple’, but is presented as a person who has feelings. Throughout the novel Candy experiences many different emotions. Firstly, he has love for his dog, then he goes through a period of sadness where he is mourning the death of his dog, then he has hope for the future when he hears about the dream and at the end he feels emptiness as he has no future to look forward to and no companionship. What Steinbeck brings out through the character of Candy is the need of the dispossessed for companionship and the support of others. He hears about the dream that George and Lennie have while he is mourning the loss of his beloved pet and offers to join them. It is a glimmer of hope when he is at his lowest and most vulnerable. Candy sees owning their own ranch as a way out of the situation and looks forward to the security of knowing he cannot be ‘canned’.
In the novel Candy’s dog symbolises the fate of the elderly. To the onlooker, the dog was old, useless, unwanted, replaceable and maimed. This is conveyed in the line, ‘That dog of Candy’s is so God damn old he can’t hardly walk. Stinks like hell, too…Why’n’t you get Candy to shoot his old dog…Candy feeds him milk. He can’t chew nothing else’. The dog is shot later in the novel. Due to the similarities between Candy and his dog, the reader cannot help but feel sympathy towards the potential fate of Candy as he continues to age and feel threatened by younger men. The maimed and elderly of the time were often viewed similarly to Candy’s dog; once society had had the best of them they were cast aside and no longer wanted. The shooting of the dog also prefigures the shooting of Lennie who like the dog has become more trouble than he is worth. Like Lennie with George, Candy keeps the dog because he is ‘used to him’. Crooks tells Lennie, ‘They’ll tie ya up with a collar, like a dog’.
The character Crooks is also a cripple. At the ranch he works as a stable buck, someone who tends to the animals such as horses. He became crippled at the ranch when he was injured by a horse and this is how he received the name Crooks, as he has a crooked back. This is one of the reasons he is a misfit. Crooks is an outcast and doesn’t sleep with the other migrant workers, ‘I ain’t wanted in the bunk-house’. He is black, which also makes him a misfit and outsider, as in the 1930’s there was a lot of discrimination towards black people. The discrimination is shown throughout by referring to him as stable buck and nigger which are both derogatory terms. Sadly, we never learn his real name.
In Chapter four we see Crooks’ personality and his emotions for the first time. This is when Steinbeck wants the reader to see Crooks’ humanity. The reader finds out that although very proud of his own personal space away from the others, feels very lonely. A phrase from Lennie and Crooks’ conversation suggesting this is, ‘A guy needs somebody- to be near him’. Through this line Steinbeck conveys that Crooks enjoys the company of others. This chapter looks at other emotions and qualities Crooks has, these were; he was clever, ‘And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California Civil Code for 1905’. This would have been seen as unusual because many people in the period were not literate, especially not black people. He also gains confidence when talking to Lennie and Candy, and when arguing with Curley’s wife, ‘Crooks stood up from his bunk and faced her. ‘I had enough’ he said coldly’. This implies that even though Crooks is seen as the lowest respected in society he still has some sense of dignity.
In the 1930’s racism was widespread making Crooks a misfit and because of this a lot of the novel is devoted to him. The readers of the period would have learned a lot about black people from Crooks. For example, the fact that he has feelings, is clever and wants to be friends with the whites on the farm. The chapter devoted to Crooks shows that the society that Steinbeck lived in needed to change, and it could change if everyone had the same perspective that Lennie had on the matter. The character Crooks is more than a ‘cripple’ as he is a person who is proud of what he has in life. He has exceeded people’s expectations of a black man in the 1930’s and has done well for himself. Even though he is often being discriminated against, he stands up for himself. He also has taught himself to read. He is keen to point out that his upbringing is not that of the stereotyped southern negro, but that he is from the North and was accepted by the white kids as a child Although, once again, this character is a cripple and misfit he is totally true to life and relevant in 1930’s America.
Curley’s wife is the only female character in the novel. She portrays the struggle of a woman in 1930’s society. She would have been seen as less important than a man, but more important than a black person. This meant that on the ranch she was one of the least respected people. She is never given a name by the author. Throughout the novel she is referred to in reference to her husband. The men on the farm refer to her as a ‘tramp,’ a ‘tart,’ and a ‘looloo’, all of which are derogatory terms. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is not kind in its portrayal of women, and Steinbeck generally depicts women as troublemakers. Curley’s wife emerges, however, as a relatively complex and interesting character.
Curley’s wife is a misfit as she is a female existing in a male environment. She doesn’t fit in on the ranch, firstly due to what she wears. She walks around the farm in high heels, dresses and make up. She does this in such a way that she tempts the men and is seen as a sexual object, but really she is desperate for attention. She is also an unusual character due to the dream she has of becoming a Hollywood star. Like George and Lennie’s dream it is almost unachievable; however, it makes her character a lot more humane, as she is normally insensitive and provocative.
Curley’s wife’s struggle in the novel is a struggle with loneliness. She is seen by the men as a temptress which turns the men on the farm immediately against her. One of the first things George says to Lennie when they arrive at the ranch is a warning to stay away from her. This is why she feels so lonely, because she is the only woman and feels isolated from the men who openly scorn her. However she does not do herself any favours; she married a man she does not like, she walks around the ranch wearing red feathered shoes, tempting the men, and when she has the chance to talk to some of the workers on the farm, which is a moment of great vulnerability for her, (as she had just admitted being dissatisfied with her life), she seeks out even greater weaknesses in others, preying upon Lennie’s mental handicap, Candy’s debilitating age, and the colour of Crooks’ skin in order to protect herself against harm. She is a bitter and scornful woman who shamelessly uses sex to intimidate the workers. However after Lennie murders her you see her in a different light, as when she is in peace Steinbeck describes her as ‘pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young’. Steinbeck could be implying that she is now happy as she got to talk to Lennie and is no longer lonely, and her only escape was death as she is no longer suffering. From the character of Curley’s wife we learn lots about the period the book was written in and how difficult it was for a woman to fit into a man’s world. As someone who stands outside of the group of men, she is able to articulate succinctly the main theme of the novel, isolation through fear, ‘You’re all scared of each other, that’s what. Ever’ one of you’s scared the rest is goin’ to get something on you’. This is echoed by Slim when he says , ‘Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other’.
From the start of the novel the reader can see that Lennie is a misfit due to his lack of intelligence and huge body. He is often described as an animal, ‘the way a bear drags his paws…snorting into the water like a horse’. From these lines we can see that Lennie is a powerful person, like a bear or a horse but he is also unintelligent. From the first few pages of the novel the reader senses that Lennie is very childlike, ‘His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely and only moved because the heavy hands were pendula’. The movement in this line is one of a bored and grumpy child. Lennie’s obsession with ‘tending rabbits’ is also very child like. Lennie is an unusual character as he is a child trapped in a man’s body. He does not know his own strength or understand many situations, causing him to get into so much trouble. Lennie is also an unusual character due to the friendship that he shares with George. Most migrant workers did not have friends; this is why lots of people questioned their friendship.
From Lennie’s story we learn that the society in which he lived did not cater for unusual characters. For example, when Curley tried to beat him up, Curley did not understand Lennie and his childish world and he was too ready to throw a punch. And when Crooks realised that he was cleverer than Lennie he took advantage of his new found status and teased him. Also Curley’s wife tried to seduce him, twisting feelings that he didn’t understand. Because of this, Lennie preferred to be in nature as this is where he felt he fitted in better. Lennie is a victim to a society which mistreated him. As nobody understood him and his lack of intelligence, he was led down a road which ended in his tragic death. The responses to Lennie from the people he encounters are very realistic as people in the 1930’s would not have been educated as to the needs and characters of challenged people such as Lennie.
George is typical of 1930’s American society as he believes in the Great American Dream. The Great American dream started in the 17th century when the people moved to America with the hope of a better life. They dreamt of making fortunes. However for many it became a nightmare. Some still carry the dream like George and Lennie’s whose dream was to own a farm on which they could provide for themselves. He is representative of the few who still carried the dream in the face of a hopeless situation. Crooks tells us that this is just a fantasy as, ‘Every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ ever God damn one of ‘em never gets it.’
George is an unusual character due to his friendship with Lennie. This is the way that Steinbeck portrays George with a difference; most migrant workers of the period would not have experienced a friendship like George had with Lennie. George is loyal to Lennie and would never leave his side and makes the greatest sacrifice for Lennie when he kills him, as he saves him from a merciless death, but in doing so he loses his best friend. This friendship causes lots of questions from the characters they meet in the novel. Steinbeck includes these to show the reader what a migrant worker’s life is like. However through this friendship the reader learns that not all of society is unwilling to include a misfit like Lennie.
Three other characters in the novel are represented as neither cripples nor misfits except for being ranch workers. Curly is privileged in being the boss’s son and has prestige as a prize-winning boxer, yet he is still isolated from the other men by his status and his suspicion of them regarding his wife. Carlson is a loner due to his insensitivity
In conclusion, I do not consider that there are ‘‘too many cripples, misfits and unusual characters’ in the novel to consider Steinbeck’s portrayal as true to life’ as although each character is unique, they all possess characteristics which are totally believable and representative of a cross-section of American society. The characters portray the importance of true friendship, loneliness, a man’s ability to dream and having someone to share the dream with, in addition to the vulnerability of being an outsider.
