Companionship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Hannah Leverenz
Ms. Foster
English 10 H
November 20, 2012 Lonely and Deadly
Companionship is a necessary factor in life for all because it provides a sense of empathy towards fellow humans. When one is deprived of close human relationships, he or she has no one to look to for support, resulting in bottled up emotions, which leads to bitterness and anger. In his novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck reveals how the lack of companionship causes one to become insensitive and even cruel towards others through the actions of the lonely men on the ranch who are apathetic from being alone for so long.
Steinbeck uses diction and characterization while recounting Carlson’s insensitive heartless shooting of Candy’s dog to portray the indifference
Although Carlson senses the old man’s discomfort, he persists in asking Candy to shoot the dog, and brushes off Candy’s “uneasy” look (Steinbeck 47). Instead of showing compassion and respecting Candy’s attachment to his dog, Carlson pushes the matter and instructs Candy to “get it over with” (47). Carlson cannot relate to the bond that Candy shares with his dog because Carlson does not enjoy an intimate friendship in his own life. Steinbeck utilizes characterization to present Carlson as a pushy man who only considers his own feelings and disregards those of others. Because he is so alone, he does not have anyone to reprimand him for this behavior and continues to act in a selfish manner. Steinbeck additionally uses diction to describe Candy as possessing a “hopeful” tone as he believes that Carlson will see his distress and reconsider shooting the dog (47). However, after being continually pestered by Carlson, who will not give up until he gets his way, Candy “hopelessly” gives in to the
Crooks claims, “a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody” (72). Because Crooks does not have anyone to relate to or share his struggles with, he dumps his distress on Lennie and attempts to bring his mood down as well. The conflict of their exchange arises when Crooks taunts Lennie and pretends that George is gone and has left Lennie on his own. This greatly angers Lennie leading him to “[stand] up and walk dangerously towards Crooks” (72). Because he is so deprived of companionship, Crooks does not understand why Lennie is so upset and how strong of a reaction he is perpetuating. Steinbeck uses diction to paint a miserable picture of living life alone. Crooks tells Lennie to imagine not being able to “go into the bunkhouse and play rummy because [he] is black” (71). Crooks has long been ostracized from the other men because of the color of his skin, and rarely even gets to interact with them. Crooks continually asks Lennie to “S’pose” different things that happen to Crooks due to his African American heritage in order to have Lennie understand the hurt Crooks experiences on a daily basis for being ignored and mistreated by the white inhabitants around him. Because of his isolation from human relationships, he is deprived of sympathy towards others and wants them to feel the pain he