They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink
I feel sorry for crooks because he is not permitted to come into the white people’s house but lives by himself in a room next to the stables. Steinbeck makes us sympathize for crooks because of his skin colour. He is totally isolated in the room, because other people are not allowed to come to the room and socialize with him .An example of this is when he attempts to keep Lennie away from his room. You can clearly see how bitter he becomes,
You got no right to come in my room
I sympathize for him as he tells his side of the story to Lennie,
Suppose you didn't have nobody. Suppose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you were black. How'd you like that?”
There is sympathy here, as out of all the people that crooks could have spoken to, he chose a mentally retarded man, Lennie. Lennie does not realise the restrictions between the whites and blacks. Lennie’s mental slowness enables Crooks to tell him his feelings
Lennie and George are sympathized in the novel as they both share the same dream, which is to one day own their own ranch. I sympathize for Lennie and George as George describes him and Lennie as the loneliest guys in the world.
Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They belong in no place.
The audience can see the catastrophe that Lennie is going through in the novel because there is no one as simply minded as him,
Steinbeck again portrays sympathy. This time with Candy .The disconsolate Candy becomes despondent after his beloved dog was shot. The men in the ranch describe the dog as a "stinking hound" and an "old bastard". Candy feels dejected as he says:
I wish somebody would shoot me when I become useless.
The most abandoned and companionless character, in which Steinbeck creates in the novel, is Curly’s wife. I feel most sympathy for Curly’ s wife as she is the only female at the ranch, although she is married, you never witness the distinct couple of Curly and his wife together; they are always searching for each other. Curly’s wife is lonely and, as a result of this, she was endlessly trying to make friends with George and Lenny. There is sympathy here because; she tries to convince Lennie to speak to her despite what George was declaring. Curly’s wife responded with,
You can talk to me, don't listen to George".
I feel sorry for Curley’s wife, as she cannot accomplish her dream of becoming a movie star as she was fooled by Curley.
Another piece of evidence, to suggest that people feel sympathise for Curly's wife loneliness is that she had no name! This proves that no one ever stays long enough to get to know her. This makes me think that Curley’s wife married Curley for company, not for love, in reason that she didn’t talk to her mum. Also I sympathize for Curly’s wife as I assume that Curly married his wife for his pleasures. I sympathize here for Curly’s wife as; I feel she is being acclimated by Curley.
Steinbeck illustrates sympathy to Slim when he in a conversation with George and Lennie. This is where slim illustrates his sympathizing:
I've never seen a couple like you two before.
It is not normal in this area.
Here Steinbeck illustrates sympathy in which we should feel for in the whole book.
You never read about Slim in abundance which must also indicate he is a lonely character.
Steinbeck always shows the men working or walking together. I sympathize here because No matter how much the men on the ranch stick together and support each other, they are still sad people.
In the following note we may not feel sympathy today but at the time the novel was written, the New York Wall Street stock market collapsed, resulting in the dollar becoming worthless. Unemployment was high at this time, which meant they was never one place long enough to form any relationships, so this was a very sad existence.
I am now at the end of the essay .I personally point at Lennie being the most sympathized person, as he is most sympathized for his accidental mistakes throughout the book. Overall the book, I feel sympathize as each individuals struggled to survive and shared the same dream, which they were unable to fulfill.
