John Steinbeck shows loneliness in ‘of Mice and Men’ because in 1929, there was an event called the Great Depression which was set in America, when the dollars lost its value. Many people lost their jobs and people were unemployed.
In addition to this, Farm workers had to travel around the country combing the countryside for a job. People were not able to make steady friends/no jobs were safe. Also, coloured people were treated badly and unfairly because in the early times, they were either killed, for example; hung or made them do slavery where they had to labour for nothing.George is a sympathetic, companionable and a very supportive man who had promised Lennie’s aunt Clara that he would look after Lennie before she died. George’s loneliness is quite apparent because he cannot get a girlfriend. Another reason is that George gets quite angry at Lennie but he doesn’t tell him that because Lennie will never comprehend, for example; George always loses his job because Lennie always conducts himself by doing bad things e.
. -when Lennie had seen this girl wearing a red dress, he touched it and wouldn’t let go because it was so velvety- Lennie loves soft things, but eventually, the girl started screaming and ran away from him, but of course Lennie had been accused of rape. Lennie and George left Weed and went to find a job in Soledad. George is forced to move from town to town to protect Lennie but he never gets a chance to make good friends.
Also, George says ‘Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world, they have got no family and they don’t belong no place. ’ This shows that George cannot live his life, George had killed Lennie because he did not want Lennie to have a slow and painful death. Lennie is a disabled and unsophisticated towering man who always behaves like a child; the reason for this is because Lennie has a disability, e. g.
; a brain of a child. George feels obliged to care and protect Lennie.Lennie always has George to look after him/he doesn’t have any friends, this shows that he is lonely. Also another reason is that Lennie loves soft things like animals, he also keeps a dead mouse in his pocket and George asks him ‘you gonna give me that mouse or do I have to sock you? ’ but then eventually Lennie gives George the mouse.
In the barn, Lennie is stroking the puppy but because he strokes it with his giant hands, Lennie accidentally kills the puppy and hides the puppy under the hay.Then Curley’s wife comes in the barn and speaks to him but Curley’s wife asks Lennie to feel her soft hair, so he does but strokes it too hard. Curley’s wife then says to Lennie ‘you let go now, you will muss it all out’ but Lennie just holds on tight and kills her, he then starts to panic and creeps out of the barn and hides in the bush, this shows that Lennie finds it difficult to communicate with others. Curley’s wife is a sad woman who is nameless because she doesn’t have a name, the reason for this is because in the early days, women were not respected by men.Curley’s wife mother does not care about her daughter because when a letter had come through the letter box; her mother hid the letter so her daughter would never go to Hollywood to meet this man, so instead she married Curley to keep her company.
She is the only woman on the ranch and is treated badly by the men. Finally, another reason is that she has no support from Curley/ she is not allowed out of the house or not even allowed to talk to anyone, this shows that she is trapped and is Curley’s property. Candy is a geriatric and disabled man who works at the ranch, e. . ; sweeping the bunkhouse.He has lost his precious dog because Carlson had persuaded Candy to shoot his dog, for example; Carlson says to Candy ‘that his dog stinks like hell and that the dog can’t even walk properly.
’ But then Candy gives his dog to Carlson so he could shoot his dog with his Lugar pistol. When the men are in the bunkhouse, the tension starts to begin but Candy had stared at the ceiling while George had rippled the cards ready to play the game with the other men, this shows that Candy is quite lonely without his dog and is very sad.But unfortunately, Whit says,’ what the hell taking him so long! ’ and this shows that Whit is very impatient and quite mean to Candy. Curley’s is a diminutive and envious man who has no respect for his wife and always get infuriated by the other men on the ranch, e.
g. ; the men flirting with his wife. He is always angry with life and is hard- hearted because he does not care about the other people, for example this shows that Curley is thoughtless and bigoted. Because of this, the men on the ranch feel contempt for Curley which makes him isolated although his father owns the ranch.Crooks is a short negro man with a disfigured back. He has a crooked back because he got kicked in the back by a horse when he was quite young.
Also, Crooks is the only coloured guy on the ranch and is in pain most of the time. Crooks is literate because he sometimes reads newspapers and books/and writes. When Lennie walked into Crooks room, Crooks gets really infuriated because he is saying to Lennie that in the early times, coloured people were not respected, this shows that he is trapped and feels sad/feels really isolated.Overall, I think George is the most loneliest person on the ranch because he always loses his job when Lennie gets into trouble, for example; when Lennie had seen this girl and touched her red dress the girl started screaming but Lennie didn’t let go and had been accused of rape so for that George and Lennie had to leave Weed to find another job somewhere else. Finally, When Lennie had died, George had felt even lonelier, and this shows that George didn’t want Lennie to have a slow and painful death trapped in a cage.
