Lennie is mentally challenged, Curley’s wife is the only woman on the Ranch, Candy’s dog caused friction between the other workers, and Crooks is the only black man on the Ranch. While Lennie is away from George, George starts up a conversation with Slim and shares his opinions on Lennie, “He’s dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy” (Steinbeck 21). George knows that while Lennie is a good worker, but that his obstreperous behavior can cause him to be a nuisance. Candy got aggravated when Curley’s Wife barges into Crooks’ room, “You ain’t wanted here. We told you you ain’t” (Steinbeck 38). Candy does not like Curley’s Wife, and most of the workers do not either, due to her “wandering eyes”. Carlson has an altercation with Candy after the terrible smell of his dog, “God almighty, that dog stinks, let his outta here, Candy! I don’t know nothing that stinks as bad as an old dog. You gotta get him out!” (Steinbeck 23). Carlson carps angrily at old Candy for him having his stinky dog in the cabin. Crooks decides to share with Lennie why he has his own room away from the other workers, “Cause I’m black. They play cards there, but I ain’t play because I’m black” (Steinbeck 31). Crooks shares with Lennie why he does not receive mutual respect from everyone on the Ranch. Throughout Of Mice and Men, several of Steinbeck’s characters are mistreated due to one outlandish characteristic …show more content…
George starts to drift away from Lennie, causing Lennie to feel that George is avoiding him. Lennie then accidently kills Curley’s wife and is hunted off the Ranch, causing him to go into complete isolation. George finally understands what he must do in order to break off this explosive friendship, ““If I as alone I could live so easy”… “I could get a job an’ not have no mess”” (Steinbeck 51). George is told by the workers that the only thing he can do to stop Lennie from being so reckless, is to kill him, “If we could keep Curley in, we might. But Curley’s gonna want to shoot ‘im. Curley’s still mad about his hand. An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George” (Steinbeck 48). George is finally convinced that the best thing to do with Lennie is kill him before he does any more damage. Steinbeck shows that if you’re an outcast that you will never truly maintain an equal