Candy the old janitor at the ranch has his dog to keep him happy and hopeful. But when Carlson shoots his dog, he needs to find something new so that he won’t be lonely, which is why he decided to help pay for the house George and Lennie want. After that, the dream of having a house is the only thing that fills Candy with hope.
Curley the boss’s son is an aggressive little man. He wants to pick fights with everyone on the ranch especially the big men. For this reason he has no friends on the ranch. He copes with his loneliness by going out to town. He’s the boss’s son so he doesn’t have to work as hard as the other ranch workers. His loneliness is a mainly because of his insecurity, because it is possible that he is insecure because he is lonely.
Curley’s wife does not like Curley. “He ain’t a nice fella” she says in the novel. Since she doesn’t like Curley she goes around flirting with all the ranch workers, but none of them want to talk to her because they’re afraid of what Curley might do. The ranch workers see her as bad, but I don’t think she was, and I don’t think she’s to be blamed for her death. Because of all this she is a very lonely character.
Crooks “Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger.” This is said in the play and is a very racist comment to say but it was in the olden days and is normal and that’s what most of the ranch workers think about Crooks. He is not allowed to do everything the other ranch workers do. Because of this he stopped himself feeling anything at all. Crooks is the most hopeless character of the ranch. Any time in the novel an opportunity that offered itself he denied it because he thought he was useless.
Slim is the prince of the ranch. He is highly respected by all the ranch workers, and has the final say in everything. He represents peace and law on the ranch. “He moved with a majesty achieved only by royalty and master craftsmen. He is lonely because he has no friends or family outside the farm, and gives back by being friendly with everyone to forget about his lonlieness.
Carlson is Like Crooks he has shut out all emotion whatsoever but much more. For example, he wants to shoot Candy’s dog simply because it smells badly. Also, after George shoots Lennie and Slim is consoling him, he says “What the hell ya’ suppose is eatin’ them two guys.
Hope also plays a large part in the novel for some characters. For example, George, Lennie, and Candy use the hope of owning some land to keep them positive. Curley’s Wife still hoped that she could be in the pictures. The character I see as most hopeless is Crooks. He doesn’t let anyone or anything get close to him. He denies the offer of working at the house which I see as giving up hope. So you can see hope plays a major part for some characters.
I did not feel most sorry for George or Lennie. I felt most sorry for Candy because he had been great friends with his dog and loved it to death. Then Carlson shot it ,so he got a new dream of owning a house. But at the end George tells him they won’t get it. He was the only character in the novel to get his dreams destroyed twice so this is why I think Candy should get most of the sympathy of the reader.
