Weakness and Strength

• Weakness and strength is a key theme of Of Mice and Men. Many characters try and hide their weaknesses.
• Candy

  Candy is old and has a missing hand as a result of an accident on the ranch.
• Candy

  Because of his physical weakness, Candy lives in fear that he will one day be considered useless, and will be thrown out onto the streets: “They'll can me purty soon. Jus' as soon as I can't swamp out no bunkhouses they'll put me on the county.” (Candy, Section 3).
• Crooks

  Crooks has suffered a major injury as a result of an accident with a horse, and this has left him with a “busted back” (Crooks, Section 4). Crooks seems to be self-conscious of the fact that he is considered physically inferior, and he tries to make up for this by being emotionally strong.
• Lennie

  Lennie is physically strong, and a very good worker. He is able to “put up more grain alone than most pairs can.” (George, Section 2).
• Lennie

  Mentally, however, Lennie could be considered weak. His learning disabilities mean it is easy for the other men to take advantage of him, and he is timid and afraid of confrontation: “Sure, he’s jes’ like a kid. There ain’t no more harm in him than a kid neither.” (George, Section 3).
• Curley's Wife

  Curley’s wife, as the only woman on the ranch, has limited freedom. She is trapped with her husband, Curley, who “ain’t a nice fella” (Curley’s wife, Section 5), and admits that she feels “lonely” (Curley’s wife, Section 5) as a result of the way she is treated.
• Crooks

  Apart from his physical disability, Crooks is treated badly because he is black. He is segregated from the other ranch workers, forcing him into lonely isolation: “They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black.” (Crooks, Section 4).
• Crooks tries to look strong by exerting his power over Lennie. Crooks is more intelligent than Lennie and is therefore able to trick him into believing that George could leave him: “S'pose George don't come back no more. S'pose he took a powder and just ain't coming back. What'll you do then?” (Crooks, Section 4).
• Curley’s wife has power over Crooks because she is white. She uses this power to threaten and dehumanise him: “I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.” (Crooks, Section 4).
• Curley is clearly self-conscious about his small size, and he compensates for this by “alla time picking scraps with big guys.” (Candy, Section 2).