What are your feeling about Candy and the way other people treat him in the novel?

Of Mice and Men

What are your feelings about Candy and the way other people treat him in the novel?

John Steinbeck uses the character Candy to convey the fact that older people in the 1930s suffered prejudice from other people. Although Candy does suffer prejudice, he, like Lennie and George and many other farm workers from 1930s America, wants to achieve the American Dream.

The other men on the ranch don’t seem to respect Candy too much. For example, in section three of the novel, no one tries to help Candy save his dog from execution. Candy is described as “looking helplessly” at Slim, showing the reader just how determined Candy is to get his point across and prevent his dog from being killed. The reader can’t help but feel sorry for Candy as he is about to lost his pet which he has had for “so long” and he can do nothing about it. In addition to this, the reader may feel anger towards the other characters on the ranch. This is because the other characters do not seem to care about how Candy feels. The anger towards Carlson further increases when he comes back after shooting the dog and starts cleaning his gun in full view of everyone, showing the reader that Carlson does not care about how Candy feels.

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Candy’s sadness and kindness towards Lennie when he finds the body of Curley’s wife makes the reader feel sympathetic towards Candy. Candy calls Lennie a “poor bastard” after Lennie kills Curley’s wife and is being hunted down by the other men. The fact that Candy calls Lennie “poor” shows the reader how Candy feels sorry for Lennie, and how Candy does not blame Lennie for the death of Curley’s wife. The fact that Candy doesn’t blame Lennie is very surprising, as it was Lennie who killed Curley’s wife and, to some extent, ruined Candy’s dream. The reader deels an enormous amount of sympathy towards Candy as the reader sees how Candy understands the situation that Lennie was in when he killed Curley’s wife. Candy then lays down and covers his eyes, showing the reader just how saddened Candy feels. Again, this invokes sympathy from the reader towards Candy as the reader can see just how agonised Candy feels.

On the other hand, the reader may feel slight anger towards Candy. When Curley’s wife dies, Candy shouts at her body and calls her “a God damn tramp.” This is because Candy feels as though it was Curley’s wife’s fault that all of his dreams have been ruined. However, the reader may feel that Candy was being unjust towards Curley’s wife. This is because Candy was not there when Curley’s wife was killed, so Candy does not know for certain if it was indeed her fault or not. This may make the reader feel slight anger for Candy as it suggests that Candy may have blamed Curley’s wife over Lennie simply because of their genders. Although this may seem a bit cynical, this sort of behaviour to women was not uncommon in America in the 1930s. This may make the reader feel slight anger towards Candy, as it suggests that he was slightly sexist.

In Of Mice and Men, the main feeling the reader has towards Candy is sympathy. This is because of the prejudice Candy received because of his age on the ranch, and Candy’s attitude towards Lennie. However, the reader also feels anger towards the way people treat Candy, simply because of his age and his disability. The treatment of Candy shown by John Steinbeck is reflective of the treatment received by old people in 1930s America.