Of Mice And Men Candy Marginalized

Confucius once said… “The man who says he can and the man who says he can’t…are both correct.” In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck we are introduced to Candy an elderly man working on the farm who is often ridiculed by his bunkmates and seen as a waste of space for his old age. Candy is also an amputee who is missing his hand from an accident on the farm, and as a way to sweep the incident under the rug, the boss keeps him on the farm for whatever usefulness he has left. Steinbeck includes “Candy” in his novel in order to show that the Elderly during the 1930s (The Great Depression) were not only ridiculed but also looked down upon by those with more (or less) power, revealing that achieving happiness through the American Dream was very unlikely

When Candy is talking to `George and Lennie about their dream, Candy brings up his disability and his status on the ranch: “I ain’t much good with on’y one hand” (Steinbeck 59.) This reveals to readers that Candy struggles with only one hand, Candy might feel inferior to others because of it and constantly downplays himself. In addition to the first quote, Candy goes more into his situation, telling both George and Lennie that he’ll be kicked out of the farm as soon as he’s not useful anymore: “They’ll be pretty soon. Just’ as soon as I can’t swamp out of bunkhouses they’ll put me in the country.” (Steinbeck 59). Making a connection with the first quote, Candy's insecurities run deeper, also tying into his old age as well. Candy's fear is beneficial to himself and the people on the

Tying this all to Candy’s predicament, society often deals with the troubles of elders and their unfair treatment within the community. Candy is often ridiculed by others and is powerless against others when in conflict with them. When Candy tries to stand up to Curley's wife he is instead shot down and Curley's wife uses his status within the ranch against him. “Tell an’ be damned”... Nobody’d listen to you.”(Steinbeck 81). Candy is powerless to even stop a woman, who is also a paran marginalized group and is seen as even weaker than men, This goes to show that even though Candy’s wiser and a man he's still seen as weak with little to no power. “Candy looked for help from face to face.” (Steinbeck 45). When looking back at the first quote we can see the level of power Candy has and what that means to him, Candy is constantly shot down by Carlson when it comes down to the whereabouts of his dog, Candy doesn’t have enough power to tell Carlson anyone, instead, he looks for help from