:: Papers

ESSAY John Steinbeck novel, ‘Of Mice and Men’, contains three characters who could be described as social misfits. In this essay I am going to describe Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife and examine what Steinbeck is attempting to tell the reader about the lives and situation of each of these characters. The book, ‘Of Mice and Men’, was set in the depression of 1930s in California in a place called Soledad. ‘Of Mice and Men’, can be viewed as a compassionate story of John Steinbeck for the hard life, poor, old age ,unskilled workers displaced by the depression a bad economic and high unemployment with no hope and no future. They had to leave their families and homes just to make money. Candy is such a character. He is the bunkhouse cleaner and he is old and has no family and the only old man on the ranch. We are told him in the book, that he is a good natured old gossip. He is a useful source of information about all the character at the ranch. We know because when George and Lennie arrive in to the ranch, Candy tells them about all the characters and also tells them about what is going on in the bunkhouse, for example when he says to George and Lennie about Curley, â€Å"Curley like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys†¦.† So first of all they know that how aggressive and bad guy Curley is. He is fond of his dog even though it is old and smelly. Candy had that dog since it was a pup. His dog is his only friend; old same like Candy. Carlson offers to shoot his dog. But Candy resists for his old, smelly, nameless dog, â€Å"No, I couldn’t do that. I had `im too long.’ Candy knows if he allows his dog to be shot he will become lonelier because that is the only companion he got and he will lose it. But Carlson is determined. Eventually he leads the dog out into the darkness of the night and to its death.