The second character that I sympathise the most is Candy. I feel sympathy for him because, in the novel Candy and his dog have a sense of loneliness and isolation about them. He is known as “the old ranch hand,” because he has lost his hand through working with the machines, so therefore can only do small jobs and is known as useless. Candy is a crucial character who very much influences the novel. He agrees to join Lennie and George in their search for a ranch of their own, to try and leave this hostile life. In the last third of the novel an important scene dictates what will happen at the end. Candy’s companion and good friend; his dog is shot by Carlson who bullies Candy into allowing him to do this to his ageing, smelly and rheumatic dog and this shows us how building a relationship with someone can be costly in such a life of independence. This scene foreshadows the end of the novel where Lennie (George’s companion) is also shot. This scene acts as a metaphor highlighting the fast approaching end of Candy’s own useful working life on the ranch. Hence, this portrays Candy as a lonely misfit who now has no companion and therefore nothing more to live for apart from this ‘oh so distant dream.’
Crooks is another character who is portrayed as a misfit and that is why he is the third person I feel most sympathy for. He is the only black man in the novel and it is through Crooks that we gain an insight into the social status of black people in America at the time, “Maybe you guys better go. I ain’t sure I want you in here no more. A coloured man got to have some rights even if he don’t like ‘em.” He is isolated from he rest of the ranch and is constantly referred to as a “nigger”. The term the rest of the workers use degrades Crooks physically and mentally from the ‘white’ men which only elaborates his difference to the rest of society. Crooks is also physically crippled by the fact that he has a crooked back. We could assume that his name may have originated from the word ‘crooked’ which shows us once again how unusual of a character he is. His uniqueness attracts Lennie and the two seem to bond. They seem to relate to one another and because of the fact that they are both cripples they are able to easily converse with one another, “Everybody wants a little piece of lan. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.”
My only limitation to sympathy for Crooks is when he behaved in an unwelcoming and aggressive manner towards Lennie when he entered his bunkhouse. “ You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.” Lennie just wanted to speak to somebody because the rest of the men had gone into town. Even though Lennie smiled at Crooks in an attempt to make fiends, Crooks answers him sharply and is rude.
Slim is a character that has an unusually subtle presence throughout ‘Of mice and men’. I don’t have any limitations to sympathy for him, nor do I feel any need to have sympathy for him because of this. He seems to be detached from the other characters and is described in the novel as a man; ‘whose ear heard more than was said to him’. Slim is sensitive to the special nature of George and Lennie’s friendship and so he therefore represents a sympathetic influence in the otherwise hostile nature of everyday life on the ranch.
In ‘of mice and men’ Curley’s wife is also a character I sympathise with. Her marriage with Curley doesn’t seem to be working and she tries to escape this trapped lonely world by releasing her sexual tension by flirting with other men on the ranch. This whole concept persuades the reader to see Curley’s wife as a misfit. She doesn’t even have a name in the novel which implies that she is different to others. Although she is married she still feels an element of loneliness and by being with the other men on the ranch she is able to feel more at ease with herself, “If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him.”
My limitations to sympathy for Curley’s wife are due to fact that she was the cause of her own and Lennie’s death. You could even say that she provoked Lennie into tragically shaking her to death. Even though she knew that the men didn’t like her, she insisted on talking to them, especially Lennie because she knew he was incapable of making his own decisions. She also knew how strong Lennie was and that he was mentally different to the rest of the men. She encouraged him to touch her hair after he said that he liked to stroke soft things, ‘ Mine is soft and fine. Course I brush it a lot. That makes it fine. Here- feel right her.’ But Lennie of course decides to stroke her hair too hard making her feel uncomfortable. She then screams and Lennie shakes her to death.
I also feel sympathy towards Curly, eventhough he is the most disliked character in the book. Although he is the boss’s son and therefore wealthy and has a lot of power, he is a victim just like all the other misfits. He has entered into an unsuccessful marriage and can only respond to this mistake by showing his ‘manly’ attitude in his aggressive behaviour towards those weaker-minded than himself. He tries to utilise his power because of his social status to respond to his mistake of getting married. And by using this power he is able to release his tension and selfdoubt.
But my limitations to sympathy to Curley are because he is a bully and uses his power and the fact that he is the boss’ son in a negative way. He is very unpopular among the workers at the ranch because of the way he treats people. When Lennie arrives at the ranch, Curley immediately picks up on the fact that he is mentally and physically different to the other men, so therefore decides to bully him. Also the fact the he wears a glove full of vaseline to keep his hand soft for his wife portrays him as a sly, creepy character.
Steinbeck portrays migrant farm workers in a simplisic way. They are shown in the book as placid people with only the bare essentials which are needed in day to day life. Here, the author tries to show us how poor the workers would have been. He tries to almost make us feel sorry for them giving them sympathy. This sympathy is shown in a poignant moment where George and Lennie are at the ranch unpacking their belongings and have hardly anything else then a simple razor, a comb and some medication, “He unrolled his bindle and put things on the shelf.”
The way Lennie is described in ‘Of Mice and Men’, he seems to be set up as a misfit deliberately because of his stature and his child like features i.e. his way of thinking, aswell as his strength which he can’t seem to control. George though, seems to be his guide, his parent and his friend. The duo are misfits for they have no home or sense of belonging yet they are very much dependant of each other, “We got a future. We got someone to talk to that gives a damn about us.” It appears that Lennie, because of his mental immaturity, is totally reliant on upon George for his survival. Equally however, is the extent to which George relies on Lennie for companionship in the generally unfriendly and lonely environment of the migrant labourer? This is shown when George speaks to Slim “it’s a lot nicer to go around with a guy you know.” This is evidence of how George might not be with Lennie purely out of a sense of pity or duty to Lennie’s Aunt Clara. This is once again proven when George speaks to the boss of the ranch they are staying in “I ain’t got no people. I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good.” This proves how Lennie is a real comfort to George and a person who he formidably relies on, to almost keep himself mentally alive. This is because his lifestyle doesn’t allow him to get close to people. This is a realistic portrayal of farm workers.
In ‘Of mice and men’ the narrative shows simple, yet persuasive language and emphasises Steinbeck’s thoughts and feelings about migrant farm-workers. This creates an atmosphere of credibility making it seem true to life. He manipulates the reader with his excellent use of metaphors and simile in both the opening and final sections and in particular his descriptions of the natural world, i.e. the heron eating the water snake, in the closing pages. Steinbeck also cleverly uses a dialect language form for the characters adding a further sense of realism.
