Short summary of the event: In Chapter 5 Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife in the barn while trying to quiet her hair. When others discover what has happened, the men react with shock, anger, and fear — and the dream of the little farm that George, Lennie, and Candy shared suddenly seems over.
Who Candy blames and why:
- Candy mainly directs his anger outward toward Curley’s wife — he calls her the cause of the trouble because she was the one talking to Lennie and tempting him to touch her hair. In his upset state he blames her for putting herself and the men in that situation.
- He also expresses despair about the loss of the shared dream (the farm). That loss makes him angry and desperate, so his blame is partly an emotional reaction: he lashes out at whatever feels responsible for destroying the possibility of a safer future.
Is Candy correct?
- Partly — but not fully. Candy’s blame is understandable because he is frightened, grieving, and facing the sudden end of the plan that had been his hope. Blaming Curley’s wife is an immediate emotional response.
- However, it isn’t accurate to place the whole responsibility on her. The death was an accidental result of Lennie’s enormous strength and inability to control himself; Curley’s wife’s behavior (lonely and flirtatious) contributed to the situation but did not make Lennie intend harm. The real causes are mixed: Lennie’s lack of control, the social loneliness and desperation of several characters, and the circumstances that brought them together in that barn.
- So morally and factually, blaming Curley’s wife alone is too simple. Candy’s reaction shows how shock and grief can make people look for a single person to blame when the truth is more complicated.
Teaching note / interpretation: Candy’s blame reveals a lot about his character and the novel’s themes. He is frightened of losing the small security the dream offered; he feels powerlessness (much like he felt when his dog was killed earlier), and blaming someone else transfers some of that helplessness into anger. Steinbeck uses moments like this to show how loneliness, fear, and powerlessness distort people’s responses to tragedy.
If you want, I can point to specific passages in Chapter 5 to support each point or compare Candy’s reaction with how George and others respond.