Quote 1
The old man [Candy] squirmed uncomfortably. "Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him." He said proudly, "You wouldn't think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen." (3.56)
This is almost the exact same thing that George says about Lennie: he's "had him so long." But can you really be friends with a dog? Or someone who's way mentally inferior to you?
Quote 2
"A guy on a ranch don't never listen nor he don't ast no questions." (2.67)
Candy gives us a pretty good definition of an isolated person: someone who doesn't ask questions and someone who doesn't listen—in other words, not much of a conversationalist. We're getting the feeling that, for Steinbeck, isolation is mostly about silences… which makes friendship mostly about conversation.
Quote 3
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…" (3.218-219)
Candy is so isolated that he doesn't even have relatives to leave his money to.
Quote 4
And when they were gone, Candy squatted down in the hay and watched the face of Curley's wife. "Poor bastard," he said softly. (5.112)
Not "poor girl," but "poor bastard." We get the feeling that Candy knows who the real victim is here: not Curley's wife, who he thinks brought it on herself, but poor, dumb, innocent Lennie.
Quote 5
"Well, Curley's pretty handy," the swamper said skeptically. "Never did seem right to me. S'pose Curley jumps a big guy an' licks him. Ever'body says what a game guy Curley is. And s'pose he does the same thing and gets licked. Then ever'body says the big guy oughtta pick on somebody his own size, and maybe they gang up on the big guy. Never did seem right to me. Seem like Curley ain't givin' nobody a chance." (2.93)
Candy may not be too smart, but he's smart enough to get it: Curley's gaming the system. It may not be very fair or just for someone like Lennie to pound on a little guy like Curley—but it's also not fair of Curley to provoke Lennie, knowing that Lennie's going to get in trouble for not picking on someone his own size.
Quote 6
"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog." (3.234)
In the (paraphrased) words of George R. R. Martin, you'd better not condemn someone to death unless you're willing to carry out the execution. It's not very manly, and it's not very just.
Candy said, "That b**** didn't ought to of said that to you."
"It wasn't nothing," Crooks said dully. "You guys comin' in an' settin' made me forget. What she says is true." (4.136-137)
Turns out, there's a little spark left in Crooks, too. He has a vision of America where he can retain a little dignity working for Candy, Lennie, and George—but Curley's wife is happy to step all over his little American Dream, even though hers is just as unattainable.
Quote 8
"Then—it’s all off?" Candy asked sulkily. George didn’t answer his question. George said, "I’ll work my month an’ I’ll take my fifty bucks an’ I’ll stay all night in some lousy cat house. Or I’ll set in some poolroom til ever’body goes home. An’ then I’ll come back an’ work another month an’ I’ll have fifty bucks more." (5.79-80)
At the end of the novel, George isn't any closer to his little slice of the American pie. In fact, he's farther away than ever, looking forward to a life of cat houses and pool rooms. That may be a fourteen-year-old boy's American Dream, but it's no life for a grown man. Unfortunately, it's the only life he knows.
Quote 9
"Yes sir. Jesus, we had fun. They let the n***** come in that night. Little skinner name of Smitty took after the n*****. Done pretty good, too. The guys wouldn't let him use his feet, so the n***** got him. If he coulda used his feet, Smitty says he woulda killed the n*****. The guys said on account of the n*****'s got a crooked back, Smitty can't use his feet." He paused in relish of the memory. (2.22)
Yikes. This is hard to read, but—to be fair to Candy—he seems to be "relishing" the fight as a fight, and not just because it involves a crippled black man. (We will point out that he doesn't ever use Crooks' name, however.)
Quote 10
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." (4.76-77)
Prejudice works both ways: Crooks may be isolated because of his skin color, but the white guys might also be missing out on a good friend. (And, we have to ask: do you think Steinbeck is making a point by having the black man speak "darkly"? Too much of a stretch?)
Quote 11
Candy looked a long time at Slim to try to find some reversal. And Slim gave him none. At last Candy said softly and hopelessly, "Awright—take 'im." He did not look down at the dog at all. He lay back on his bunk and crossed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. (3.85)
Poor Candy. We wish we could respect Candy a little more, because he seems like a genuinely nice guy who's had a bad life. But he's so weak that he can't even manage to shoot his own dog—not very manly.
Quote 12
[Candy] said miserably, "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs." (3.222)
We're pretty sure (99.9%) that Steinbeck isn't recommending the euthanization of old ranchhands, but this is a problem: if your entire career is based on bodily strength, what happens when you get old and can't work anymore?
Quote 13
"Well, that glove's fulla Vaseline."
"Vaseline? What the hell for?"
"Well, I will tell ya what—Curley says he's keepin' that hand soft for his wife." (2.99-101)
George and Candy snicker about Curley's vanity, but it raises an important question: what do women want? Well, if they're middle-class women in a technologically developed country like America, where the guys all work in offices with fifteen blue shirts, they want a man with rough, worker's hands. But if they're working-class women in the Great Depression surrounded by rough ranchhands (according to Steinbeck), they want their man to have baby-soft hands.
Quote 14
"Well—she got the eye."
"Yeah? Married two weeks and got the eye? Maybe that's why Curley's pants is full of ants." (2.109-110)
You know—the eye for love. You'd think that'd be a good thing in a new wife, but it's not. It just makes Curley a jealous wreck.
Quote 15
Candy's face had grown redder and redder, but before she was done speaking, he had control of himself. He was the master of the situation. "I might of knew," he said gently. "Maybe you just better go along an' roll your hoop. We ain't got nothing to say to you at all. We know what we got, and we don't care whether you know it or not." (4.105)
Okay, we kind of feel like cheering here. Candy might not have been strong enough to shoot his dog, but he's definitely strong enough to deal with Curley's wife. In the end, she's just a woman—and he's a man. (On second thought, maybe hold the cheers.)
Quote 16
[Candy] said miserably, "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs." (3.222)
Here's the thing: the world treats old men like Candy just as badly as they treat old dogs, and maybe even worse. They'll kill the old dogs, but they'll make the old men suffer.