Character Analysis
With his handlebar mustache, eccentric interest in miniature pyramids, and pot-smoking habit, Uncle Big can be a bit of a jester, lightening up the gravest moments in the post-Bailey Walker household. But he's definitely grieving, too—in fact, each day after work, he's "smoking three bowls of weed to numb the pain" (27.32). Like Lennie and Gram, then, he keeps his pain to himself.
Also like Lennie and Gram, though, toward the end, we know Uncle Big's healing because he goes out more. He starts talking about wanting to dine in a restaurant instead of in trees, and at the very end, he gets married again. Yes, it's for the sixth time, but still—it shows he's reconnecting with the world outside his sadness.
He may be a funny looking stoner, but Uncle Big is also kind of wise. In the beginning, he tells Toby and Lennie, "No way out of this but through" (3.49), for instance, and when Lennie confesses her fear that Bailey had the "restless gene," he gently corrects her, points out that dreams change, and reminds Lennie of the music dream she used to have (Chapter 26). He's kind of a Dumbledore figure in this way—you never know whether he's going to say something silly or spout world-rocking advice.