Loneliness In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty” (Mother Teresa).
Loneliness and isolation is a dominant theme in Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck during the great depression. The reason why Candy was isolated was because he was old and handicap. The only thing that kept him happy was his dog but no one liked him since he was old and stinked. Crooks has always been isolated because he is black. Being black during this time people didn't really like you they were afraid that since you're a different color you're going to cause a crime. The main character of the story was George he was isolated from everyone that was equal to him. Lennie was the only one he had to talk with but all he did was agree with him since he was retarded. Many of the characters in of mice and men are isolated and lonely, which echoed the feelings during the great depression. First person that really stood out was Crooks the reason why he stood out more than others is because he is black and everyone else in the story was white. He was isolated from everyone else by being in a little room to himself away from others. There was a scene when Lennie went in
the crooks room and he expressed how he felt about being alone he even said it sucks having to stay away from everyone. Crooks says,”a guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody don't make no difference who the guy is, long’s he's with you. i tell you a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (72). During this time blacks were treated unfairly because to everyone else they appeared different. Lennie and Crooks were both seen as to be animals Lennie because he was retarded and Crooks because he was a different skin color. The old man in the story named Candy he was different than all the others he was old and all the other workers were young or mid age.
The main thing that made him not lonely at the beginning of the story was his dog. Nobody wanted his dog around since they thought he was to old and also he stinked badly and the people in the same camp didn't want to put up with the smell.Candy let Carlson shoot his dog, and then later regretted it,”I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let a stranger shoot my dog”(61). The moment he started acting different was when they killed his dog he layed down and cried to himself which was sad because the dog grew up with the old man. At this point in the story the old man didn't know what to do he isolated himself from everyone because his
sadness. George is really just isolated from anyone who is equal to him. The reason he is isolated from people equal to him is because he has to be with Lennie.”If i live alone i could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come i could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever i want.”(11). The problem about being with lennie is a lot of people don't like retarded people they think they belong locked away since to people they appear as animals. George could not have a girlfriend or wife without the danger of Lennie doing something wrong. In the story with Curley's wife when she came into the barn she shouldn't have let lennie pet her hair since it's soft and lennie likes feeling soft things. I believe George wouldn't be as lonely and isolated if he didn't have to watch over lennie.