Of Mice & Men...and Skin Colour

While writing his controlled assessment, one of my students asked for clarification about why Curley's wife bothered to talk to Lennie. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Well...why did she talk to Lennie? What was Lennie like?

Student: Mentally disabled..he was different than the others.

Me: Exactly. They were both different than everyone else, both outcasts.

Student: But they're both white!

Me: ...What? Outcast, not half-caste!

The best part of the whole story...the class, writing under silent exam conditions, heard the entire conversation.

For those of you not in the know, half-caste is an out of date (possibly not very PC?) term referring to someone of mixed race.