When Candy hears of the dream it comes as a comfort to him, as he sees it as a means of escape from his monogamous days at the farm and a release from the pain of being a lonely misfit. He offers George and Lennie help on their new land, doing odd jobs and whatever he is capable of- Lennie is very appreciative of his proposal as they have been able to open up to each other and Candy has been able to share a dream and his emotions with another soul again. He is very reassured by this opportunity and begins to see hope for the future, visions only seen by the relationship George and Lennie shared before.
His character reacts to Lennies death as a necessary act of justice, although his dreams are shattered along with those of Georges, he realizes that it had to happen. He returns to a sorry state once again, friendless and with no hope. Steinbeck represents the idea that the Migrant workers can never escape the loneliness and pain of the lifestyle here and that no matter how they attempt to escape the frustration of being a misfit in a society full of controversy and strong views, they are unable to conquer it.
Crooks is another perfect example and portrayal created by Steinbeck, of a misfit. His character is developed as both a cripple and an outcast due to his humped over back and the colour of his skin. Racial prejudice was immense and at a height at this time, discrimination over the black people of America was extreme and caused huge controversy. Crooks unfortunately suffered from, and was affected by the attitude towards his culture and people and as a result was secluded from the other migrant workers. His character settled in separate accommodation and therefore lived a completely different lifestyle to that of the other migrant workers, and if possible, and even more lonely one.
His “crooked back” that gave him his nickname also came, as a great disability to him as he was unable to perform tasks or work as hard as the other men. He was therefore treated much as Candy was – a dispensable, soulless nobody. With a job merely as a stable buck his life was forever in jeopardy as well as he depended on his job for money and lived life in “fear of getting’ canned”.
Steinbeck attempts to show crooks actual humanity as he is left alone with Lennie, the first to talk to in depth for a long time. Crooks feels comforted by this after deciding Lennie is harmless and it enables him to open up and for us to see the true Crooks. Although he is very grateful to Lennie for the opportunity to share his feelings, he becomes aware that he is superior to Lennie in mental knowledge and sees a chance to feel more contented with his life and seeks it out. However his new found realisation, glimmer of hope and images of the possibility of becoming a part of the dream and a friendship are shattered when Curley’s wife enters. She brings down his confidence and represents the whole of society’s views upon blacks at this time of the great depression and their status in life. They are even considered to be lower than women which Curley’s wife acts upon similarly to the way that Crooks did to Lennie as she sees an opportunity to feel authority over another being and takes it. Crooks slight hope for the future was brought to him by Lennie and the ability to be part of something, but ruined by a “tart”!
Her character single handedly enables the reader to see every woman in Americas struggle at this time as they fought against sexism and the struggle of living throughout the Great Depression. A woman’s position in society was seen as inferior to that of a mans and were purely there to provide for there husbands and produce a family. They were considered to be unable to work properly and inadequate compared to a mans abilities due to their ‘stronger physique’.
The character of Curley’s wife however was unusual and uncommon to that or a normal wife of a manager of a farm. Her attitude and personality did not suit or appear to fit into the stereotype to that of a common farmer’s wife at this time. She strutted around in high heeled shoes and “red dresses” and was generally inappropriately dressed to run around a farm ‘looking for her husband’!
Her character was often referred to as “jailbait”, “tart” and a “looloo” all of which are derogatory terms which implies the possibility that Steinbeck could be a misogynist. This idea is developed further as we see the introduction of Suzie’s Place.
Every time that a woman is featured in this novel, she is described and illustrated in an offensive light, showing the unbelievable struggle that the female race faced at this time due to the men’s sexism. It could therefore be said that Steinbeck was depicting his views and feelings towards women within his novel, or it could be his individual attempt to represent and convey the hard lives they endured and sexism they faced daily during this period.
Lennies character is also developed as a misfit due to his lack or knowledge and a basic common sense, vital to survive such a tough society. He is inferior to the other workers due to this but is however far stronger than them physically.
We learn that society is unable to cope with Lennie as they are completely unable to understand his childlike behaviour and lack of mental awareness of general events of everyday life and the necessities that are needed to survive through it. The people of society within the novel feel threatened by Lennies menacing build and strength but don’t know how to or want to accept him as a unique person into their community as he does not conform to the stereotypical ‘normal person’.
As the novel progresses we see Lennies victims growing in size and it becomes horrifyingly aware and inevitable that Lennie will kill Curley’s wife at the ending to the reader. He is purely unaware of the crime that he commits and just how appalling it is. His lack of common knowledge made him a menace to society towards the end and we realise that although he was more a victim himself than a murderer it was necessary that he should be killed, even though a tragedy.
Although not a typical migrant worker on the farm he is able to positively affect some of the other men as he brings hope for the future and an escape from their mundane, lonely lives. He brings joy and smiles so distant to those men before and enables them to dream again. No other misfit was able to affect the other workers so beneficially, yet he suffered in the long term due to his immaturity and naivety as Curley’s wife flirted with him.
George is most likely to be the only typical migrant worker featured in the novel due to his life being surrounded with work and the toil to survive these times. Constantly on the move and with little money he falls into the category of a ‘normal’ worker, however he had something that all the other men did not have and longed for; a companion.
George and Lennies relationship although controversial and questionable during this period, was a point of great jealousy for the other men, someone to share feelings and a dream with.
Lennie relied on George for everything and we see their father-son relationship remain consistent throughout due to the dream and hope for the future that they share. This enables their bond to grow stronger right the way through the novel and emphasised the other migrant workers loneliness more evidently.
The wide variety of misfits featured in the novel could appear to be at an apposing amount and perhaps too many were added as the reader could be left with a miss understanding of the life of a normal, usual worker at this time.
However every character is very representative of the different problems that people faced in society at this time, whether they be black, white, crippled, dumb, male or female, they all have a story to tell and share a struggle upon them to fight the loneliness and typical life of a migrant worker.
Without characters like these the novel would be very limited and unable to explore the problems within society during the 1930’s and the way that it affected the whole of America and it’s people!
