The reasons we pity Curley are: He is not nice to his wife. He picks on people that are bigger than him e.g. Lennie. He visits prostitutes, which suggests he is lonely. Also he is racist to Crooks. But the reason we pity Curley most is his inability to socialise. This is shown by this quote when Curley first meets George and Lennie: “He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists” This quote shows Curley’s inability to socialise because it shows his aggression towards George and Lennie before he’s even met them properly.
We pity Curley’s wife because she wears short dresses because she wants to be noticed, she is lonely and she is rejected from the main group. She always flirts with other men and she doesn’t like Curley. We also feel sorry for her because she doesn’t want to stay on the ranch and wants to leave and become an actress. Another reason that we pity her is because Lennie kills her. This quote shows how lonely Curley’s wife is “I never get to talk to nobody, I get awful lonely” this quote shows how lonely she is because she admits it herself while she’s talking to Lennie.
We pity Crooks because he is the only black man in the ranch and he puts up with all the racism from all of the other men and Curley’s wife. He has a crooked back. He has no friends because he is black. He is not allowed to visit the whorehouse, play cards or horseshoes with the other men all because of his colour. More reasons we pity him are to do with his colour. For example, he lives on his own and no one will talk to him. Another reason we pity Crooks is because he is the only well educated person on the ranch yet he works as the stable buck. These quotes show how people are racist to Crooks. “Listen nigger” said by Curley's wife and “Sure, ya see the stable bucks a nigger”. These quotes show what Crooks have to put up with everyday and the word ‘nigger’ is the racist word that they all use when addressing Crooks.
We feel pity for Lennie because he always needs looking after and he can’t look after himself. He is slow minded and forgets things easily. He has no family and doesn’t have any friends except George. Lennie can’t control himself and doesn’t know his own strength. He isn’t intelligent and he finds it hard to express his conscience. Also Lennie can’t get food or clothes for himself. The main reason I pity Lennie is because he is killed at the end by his best and only friend. These quotes show Lennie’s slow mindedness “Give you what George?” and “I like ketchup with my beans”. These quotes show Lennie’s slow and simple mindedness because he can’t remember what George asked him to give him and he says childish things because he is simple minded.
We pity George because he has to look after Lennie all the time and he can’t go anywhere without him because he promised Lennie’s Aunt Clara that he would look after Lennie. George can’t meet a woman because he’s always moving ranch because of Lennie doing things at the ranches e.g. in Weed, they were ran out of town because Lennie was stroking a girl’s dress and he wouldn’t let go, so the girl panicked and started screaming and George and Lennie were run out of town. Also George can’t meet a lady because he’s always got to look after Lennie. Another reason for pitying George is because he has a dream to own a ranch and have rabbits and hens, but Lennie ruins this dream because Lennie’s always losing his job George has to give up his job and go with Lennie, so he never has enough money to buy the ranch. Also he loses his closest and best friend, Lennie. This quote shows George’s loneliness. “Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work an’ no trouble.” This quote shows how lonely he is
because he explains all the reasons why he can’t do anything or have a nice wife or a good job because of Lennie.
The character I pity the most is Crooks because he suffers from racist abuse e.g.: nobody refers to him as Crooks they all call him ‘nigger’. He isn’t allowed to join in with anyone. When the others were playing cards they wouldn’t let him join in their game. Everyone else lives in a bunkhouse with someone but Crooks lives alone. He has a crooked back from being kicked in the back by a horse when he was young. This makes it hard for Crooks to do the job he has; stable buck. And these are the reasons why I pity Crooks the most.
Life would have been much better on the ranch if they men could lead a more social life and could go into towns and meet new people. It would also be better if the men didn’t have to keep moving on from ranch to ranch and could stay at one ranch and get a promotion after working there for a while. Another way things would have been better was if the living conditions were more comfortable and if the food was better quality. It would also be better if the men could get acess to a better education.
