In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men,
Candy is isolated. This is due in part to the situation that exists for all of the men
at the ranch. They, like many others, must travel across the country trying to find work
in light of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which started the Great Depression in the
United States. They don't have a place to call home or their
own.
The other reason is that Candy is disabled: missing a
hand. As long as he can work, he will be allowed to stay. When he cannot stop his dog
from being shot, it is clear to him that once he is too old, or has
outlived his usefulness, he will be let go without a second
thought.
As we read the story, we find out that the dream
Lennie and George have really appeals to Candy as well. He has saved a large sum of
money and offers to help buy the land so that they can all have a life of meaning; he,
too, wants to stay in one place and harvest his own crops instead of doing it for
someone else as he has done for so long.
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Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much.
Jus' som'thing' that was his. Something' he could live on and there couldn't nobody
throw him off of it. I never had none. I planted crops for damn near ever'body in this
state, but they wasn't my crops, and when I harvested 'em, it wasn't none of my
harvest.
Working with the men
on the ranch, Candy knows that he will not be able to stay there forever. One day he
will be out of work, and with his disability, what will he do? So he puts in his lot
with George and Lennie, pursuing the American dream of the
1930s.
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