Candy Character Analysis | Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men Candy Character Analysis: Who he is in one sentence

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Candy is the old one-handed swamper who watches his dog be shot for being useless, works out that the same logic is waiting for him, and buys into the farm because it is the only place nobody can throw him off.

What he does

In Chapter 2 he shows George and Lennie the bunkhouse. Steinbeck introduces him by his injury, describing an arm that ends in a wrist with no hand. His old sheepdog follows him everywhere.

He explains the ranch to the newcomers. He describes Curley’s temper, the glove of vaseline, and what the men think of Curley’s wife. He talks a great deal, because talking is most of what he has.

In Chapter 3 Carlson argues that his dog should be shot. Candy resists, then loses, because Slim agrees and Slim’s opinion settles things. Carlson takes the dog outside. Candy turns his face to the wall.

Later that evening he overhears George describing the farm. He offers his compensation money and his future wages. His money is what turns the story into a plan.

In Chapter 4 he follows Lennie into Crooks’s room and defends the dream against Crooks’s scepticism. He tells Curley’s wife to leave, and she puts him back in his place.

In Chapter 5 he finds the body in the barn and fetches George. He understands at once that the farm is finished. He is left alone with her body and turns on her in grief.

What he wants

Candy wants somewhere he cannot be dismissed from. He is not chasing wealth. He has watched what this ranch does to anything that stops being useful. He does not have long left.

“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, in Chapter 3.

Quote this to show the dream is survival rather than greed. He is not imagining a better life. He is trying to avoid a specific and predictable ending. The word county means the workhouse, and he says it plainly.

He also wants to be useful for as long as he can. He offers money because he cannot offer labour. It is the only bargaining position he has left.

Key quotes

“Well- hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him.”
Candy, defending his dog in Chapter 3.

His whole case is memory, and memory loses to usefulness. Quote it against Carlson’s argument to show what the ranch values and what it does not. Nobody in the bunkhouse thinks memory is a reason.

“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.”
Candy, in the dark after the shot, Chapter 3.

The most important line Candy speaks, because George is in the room to hear it. Use it in any answer about the ending. This is where George gets the idea, and the whole final chapter follows from it.

“When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me.”
Candy, in Chapter 3.

He applies the dog’s fate to himself out loud. One of the bleakest lines in the novel. Quote it to link the two shootings and to show that Candy already understands the rule he is living under.

“Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Som’thin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it.”
Candy, in Crooks’s room in Chapter 4.

The clearest statement in the book of what the land actually means. Not money. Security. Use this quote in any answer on the American dream, because it defines the dream in terms of safety rather than success.

What he stands for

Candy stands for what the ranch does to age. He lost his hand in an accident here and was paid off. He now sweeps floors, and when he cannot do that he will be moved on. Nobody is cruel to him. The system does not need anybody to be cruel.

He also stands for the parallel Steinbeck builds most carefully. The dog is described as dragfooted, grey around the muzzle, with pale blind eyes. Candy describes his own future in almost the same terms. The reader is meant to notice before Candy says it.

He stands for grief that is not allowed anywhere. After the shot he rolls over and faces the wall. He does not cry in front of the men, and none of them speak to him. Steinbeck uses one small movement to show a whole code about what men may feel out loud.

Finally, he is what makes the dream briefly real. Without his money it stays a bedtime story. His savings are the reason three men sit in a bunkhouse and look at each other, amazed.

Two strong essay angles

1. Candy and the dog as one argument. Use this for questions on a moving moment, on symbolism, or on how a writer prepares an ending. Set the dog’s description against Candy’s description of himself, then set Carlson’s reasoning against Candy’s regret. Finish at the pool in Chapter 6 and show that George is acting on what Candy said.

2. Candy as the reason the dream matters. Use this for questions on hopes and dreams. George’s version of the farm is vague and comfortable. Candy’s version is specific and frightened. Quote his line about land nobody can throw him off. Steinbeck gives the dream its real weight through the character with the least time left.

Common mistake

Students often treat Candy as a minor character who exists to provide money for the plot. He is the character who explains the novel’s rules. The ranch keeps what is useful and disposes of what is not. Candy is the one who says this out loud about himself. Many answers treat the dog as a sad episode. It is the argument that decides the ending, and missing that is the most common slip on this text.

Quick recall

1. How did Candy lose his hand?

In an accident on the ranch. He was paid compensation for it, and that money is what he later offers towards the farm.

2. How does Steinbeck introduce Candy?

By his injury. He points with his right arm and a round stick-like wrist comes out of the sleeve with no hand on it. On this ranch a man is worth what his body can still do.

3. What is Candy’s job?

Swamper, meaning he cleans the bunkhouse. It is the work left for a man who can no longer do the heavy jobs.

4. Why is his dog shot?

Carlson argues it is old, it smells and it is no good to itself. Once Slim agrees, the matter is settled and Candy has no standing to argue.

5. How does Candy react immediately after the shot?

He rolls over and faces the wall without a word. There is nowhere for his grief to go and none of the men acknowledge it.

6. What does Candy regret?

Letting a stranger shoot his dog instead of doing it himself. George hears him say it and acts on it in the final chapter.

7. How does Candy make the dream possible?

He offers his compensation money and his wages. With his contribution added the three of them could actually afford the place.

8. Why does Candy want the farm?

Security. He knows he will be dismissed when he can no longer work. He wants a piece of land nobody can remove him from.

9. What happens to Candy in Crooks’s room?

He defends the dream against Crooks, then tells Curley’s wife to leave. She dismisses him along with the others as one of the weak ones left behind.

10. What does Candy stand for?

What happens to people when they stop being useful. His dog is shot for it, and he says out loud that he expects the same treatment.

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