Of Mice and Men

... retarded, Candy for being old, Crooks for being black, and Curley's wife for being a woman. Between themselves, they expect strength, distance and independence, and are uncomfortable with emotions. This intolerance and isolation cause loneliness for all the characters in this novel. This social power group oppresses and isolates Curley, Lennie and Candy because they are different, even though they are white. Lennie is very strong and big but his mind is like a child's, so the men don't respect him as an equal. For example, George explains to Slim that he, "Used to play jokes on [Lennie] cause he was too dumb to take care of 'imself" Lennie does not take part in the activities the workers do in their spare time. Lennie does not go to town with the men. In Weed, Lennie gets in trouble because the people don't understand his problem. They react with anger instead of understanding. George explains to Slim, "Cause he ain't mean....like what happened in Weed-" Candy is afraid that he will have nowhere to go soon because he is old: "I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no jobs." Candy knows that society doesn't value or care about people who can't work. Society rejects them because they are no longer useful. Carlson shows this when he says about Candy's dog, " He ain't no good to you, Candy. An' he ain't no good himself. Why'n't you shoot him, Candy? Candy knows he is like his dog; an old man is almost useless. He knows how they will discard them. He's no longer useful: "They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they came here I wish&# ...