Loneliness And Isolation In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

Loneliness and isolation are both factors of depression, ironically with this story in The Great Depression. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, set in The Great Depression, George and Lennie get a job at a ranch after previous failed attempts at other jobs due to Lennie’s childlike disorder. They start to get used to their jobs alongside with Crooks, Candy, and Curley and his wife. Lennie’s childlike disorder, however, caused him to accidentally murder Curley’s wife, which ultimately led to his own death. Steinbeck’s description and dialogue expresses his attitude that loneliness and isolation were caused both by social barriers and personal choice, which in some cases, led to death.
Crooks was the only African-American person that was working on the ranch, which led to his exclusion and guided towards his isolation and loneliness. All of the other ranch workers can play cards and other activities together, but they exclude Crooks. Crooks complained “ ‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black” (68). This tells that Steinbeck understood what being isolated felt like. The social barriers that Crooks encounters interferes with him …show more content…
Candy’s dog was a herder for him who helped Candy for mostly all of his life. After he reluctantly agrees for Carlson, a man who also works at the ranch, to shoot his dog, “For a moment he continued to stare at the ceiling, then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent” (49). Candy is contemplating his decision, as portrayed in the quote. This gives an idea of how Steinbeck gave into isolation because of guilt and shame. This becomes loneliness as the isolation separates Candy from the activity of the other men. This is also Candy’s personal decision to stay isolated because he wanted to remember the life of him and his dog