Loneliness In Of Mice And Men, By John Steinbeck

In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930s. He represents loneliness through his characters such as, Candy, Crooks, Curley’s wife, George and Lennie. Through these characters he illustrates how people are driven to find companionship. Two Characters, The Boss, and Curley’s wife, are never addressed by a name but a title instead. “The old man said, ‘I guess the boss’ll be out here in a minute’… ‘What kind of a guy is the boss?’ George asked” (Steinbeck 11). This shows that the men call the boss by his title and not by his actual name. Just like the boss Curley’s wife is also called by a title and not her actual name but she has a bigger role in the book. Unlike these two, George and Lennie have each other and are the books example of not having loneliness.
George and Lennie are the main characters of the book. These two characters are depicted as having a close bond almost as if they were family. Yet in some parts Lennie is described as being a pet and that he would do anything that
George says. “‘Give it here!’Lennie’s closed hand slowly obeyed” (Steinbeck 4). Yet even though he is like this you can tell he cares. George talks about people who travel alone and basically says they aren't smart. Another character who has a companion happens to be Candy. Candy is an older crippled man, who has an older dog who later is put down. Candy is a very attached to his dog and when a couple guys tell him to put the dog he argues for a long time. At the end of the argument, Candy decides to put the dog down. “‘You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me…”(Steinbeck 31). This shows how bad he felt for having someone shoot his dog and how lonely he felt. Then he hears a conversation between George and Lennie about their farm and offers to join them almost as if to fill that empty space made by his dog. Along with Candy Crooks is another Character that wanted to join George and Lennie on the farm.
Crooks is a colored man who is shunned by the rest of the workers.“’Cause I’m black.
They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I'm Black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.”’ (Steinbeck 34) Then Lennie happens to come in and help him overcome his loneliness by talking to him about the farm. Crooks then asks to be apart of that plan to cure his loneliness. Crooks loneliness is very similar to Curley's wife. Curley’s wife Flirting with the workers to gain attention because of how she is shunned by everyone just like Crooks. ‘“I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobodybut Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”’’ (Steinbeck 43) She talks to Crooks, Candy, and Lennie in the barn so that she could not feel lonely but the shun her. The interesting thing is Steinbeck shows the people who have a companion as powerful and
smart. Steinbeck shows three people as having a companion with them. George, Lennie, and Candy all have companions at a point in the book. All of them are probably the most loved characters in the book as well. The reason behind that is because how friendly they seem when with their companion. “George said, “He’s my . . . . cousin. I told his old lady I’d take care of him. He got kicked in the head by a horse when he was bright. But he can do anything you tell him.”’ (Steinbeck 12). This shows to the reader how close Lennie and george are to one another. Yet Steinbeck also shows how all of them felt when that companion is taken away from them. Two of these characters are at a loss when their companionship is removed. Candy, and George both lose their friends who they care deeply for. Candy cries himself to sleep as he hears his dog get shot. George trembles as he pulls the gun to Lennie's head “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” (Steinbeck 52)
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