Of Mice and Men: Candy

Candy is the oldest worker on the farm, tall and stoop-shouldered. He is a swamper and does the cleaning. Actually he isn't able to work properly on the farm like all the other guys, because he lost his right hand. So therefore he is in a very low position in the hierarchy of the farm. Candy is a kind of on the same level as Crooks. He isn't a nigger, he is allowed to sleep in the same bunkhouse, but still he isn't integrated on the farm, because he is handicapped and old and not one of the good workers. He doesn't have any human friends, but he has got his old dog. Carlson thinks it stinks and is of no use anymore. But for Candy it is the only friend he has, otherwise he would be lonely and completely on his own. Carlson wants him to shoot the dog, but Candy doesn't agree, because it was the best sheep dog he ever had. In the end, Candy gives up and lets Carlson shoot his dog. Later he realizes that it was a big mistake not to do it on his own. It was his friend and it didn't deserve to die this way and be killed by a stranger. He is very sad about this, but then he hears Lennie ask George to talk about their dream again.

From this moment on, Candy is happier, because he believes in their dream and that he can have a better future on his own farm. He has an agreement with George and Lennie that he can do the cleaning and help them to feed the animals. For this service he is allowed to live in peace and respected on their farm. If everything goes perfectly well, George, Lennie and Candy will have the money soon. But then Lennie breaks Curley's hand and the future of the three guys is unsure. When Lennie kills Curley's wife everything is over for Candy. His only worry is the dream and not Lennie's life. He isn't scared that Lennie will get lynched by Curley and the other guys, he can think only about the dream. Candy is very selfish in this moment and then George tells him that the dream was just to make Lennie happy and give him an imagined future. It was never supposed to become real. Candy is sad and the only thing he can do in this moment is to watch George leave, in search of Lennie.

Maybe it is unfair of Candy that he acts like that. But it's also understandable. He is old and lonely. Nobody really seems to like him. He isn't accepted as a member of the group, he is just tolerated as the guy who does the swamping on the farm. The only possibility to escape from this unpleasant situation is to flee in another and better life somewhere else. This dream was with Lennie's and George's dream so near and almost reached, but now it is gone forever. He won't be able to change his life now and has to live as the swamper on the farm for the rest of his life.

Xenia, Noah