Friday, May 17, 2019

What is a quote in which Candy is alienated in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck?

Candy is isolated and alienated for various reasons. He's old and he's missing a hand. His age might be overlooked if he still had the use of both hands; however, the missing hand causes Candy to be less useful than he once was. In this sense, Candy is alienated because he's not as useful as other ranch workers. Candy is also isolated because he doesn't have any family around him. He has other workers, but that's not the same as having a loving and supportive family. Chapter 3 gives readers a good quote about his alienation. We see that Candy is so much on his own and by himself that he doesn't even have any relatives to will his money to.

George half-closed his eyes. "I gotta think about that. We was always gonna do it by ourselves." Candy interrupted him, "I'd make a will an' leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, 'cause I ain't got no relatives or nothing . . . "

To make the lack of family even worse, Candy no longer has the company of his dog:

"I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."

Prejudice is a theme present in the book, and prejudice seeks to alienate people from each other for one reason or another. Take Crooks for example. He's alienated because of his skin color, but that kind of racism and prejudice works both ways. White people are alienated from black people too. It's not just blacks being alienated from whites. Chapter 4 has a good quote showing how this happened to Candy.

Candy leaned against the wall beside the broken collar while he scratched his wrist stump. "I been here a long time," he said. "An' Crooks been here a long time. This's the first time I ever been in his room."
Crooks said darkly, "Guys don't come into a colored man's room very much."

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