The main difference between George and Lennie from the other guys, is that they share a real companionship, unlike any of the other ranch workers who got by, just casually chatting with the others, but never really making any permanent bonds. The others didn’t know how to react to this; ‘Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them tow guys?’, is what Carlson said when he saw Slim acting like a real friend towards George, after George had killed Lennie.
Candy was another lonely figure in the story, he was the oldest and found it difficult to communicate with the majority of the younger ranch workers. His only friend was his dog which he considered to be his best friend. Candy was unable to do any of the hard jobs due to his age and his disability (he had his hand cut off during work on the ranch). He gained $250 as compensation, though, what he didn’t know was that this money was almost going to buy him a happy future.
He knew his days were numbered on the ranch; ‘They’ll can me purty soon. Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk-houses.’. He knew he was becoming useless compared to the young energetic workers. When they decided to shoot his dog, because it was old and hurting itself by being alive, he knew he was next up for the ‘can’. In a way his dog’s death symbolises Candy himself, and as soon as he was unable to work they’d ‘can’ him and he would have no where to go. That was until he heard George and Lennie talking about buying their own few acres to live on. Candy wanted to buy himself into their dream. Seeing as he had nothing else to spend his money on it was an ideal alternative to working on the ranch until he was sacked or even until he died.
When he says; ‘I’d make my will an’ leave my share in case I kick off.’. It just shows how lonely Candy really was, he didn’t have anyone to leave his small fortune with, not even a family to leave it to, he was in a way desperate to make a real friendship before he passed away. It also describes how it was with many ranch workers, if you were brought up in a lower class family during the American depression, you didn’t have a choice on how you lived or where you lived. You would do what you had to, to earn money.
Crooks was by far the most isolated man on the ranch, he was seen as an outcast, someone who wasn’t needed to be called by a real name, ‘nigger’ was his preferred name. You can tell from the outset he is discriminated against because of his colour: ‘They let him in that night,’ was one of the phrases used when Candy was joking about ‘The Goddamn nigger’. The language implies that he was some kind of animal, who wasn’t aloud in unless they wanted to beat him.
He had one of the worst jobs on the ranch, the stable buck, he worked and lived in the stables with no body else. Although he did have a crooked back which meant he couldn’t do some of the jobs which required more strength.
Crooks was lonely throughout yet he made no attempt when others did to make a friend, as when Lennie came in to his barn he tried to order him out. When he realised how simple Lennie was he enjoyed a mocking him, he felt as though he had power over someone. Eventually he started talking to Lennie as an equal, and he obviously enjoyed it having someone to talk to, someone to let it all out with. He opened up to Lennie about how his life used to be with his family and how deserted he really felt; ‘I tell ya a guy gets to lonely an’ he gets sick.’. Crooks spent most of his time reading, but books couldn’t satisfy his need for a friend; ‘Books ain’t no good.’. The problem was that Crooks made no attempt to make friends, he had a mutual agreement, which was not spoken of, but everyone knew that if they stayed away from the ‘nigger’ he’d stay away from them. ‘You got no right to come in my room.’; was what he said when Lennie stepped through the door.
Curley’s wife’s loneliness was different to Crooks and Candy, as she tried her hardest to become friends with the other guys on the ranch. Unfortunately she portrayed the wrong image and appeared to be a very flirtatious woman. She didn’t want a relationship with the other guys, she simply wanted someone to talk to and someone to trust. She was the only other person on the ranch looking for a friendship similar to George and Lennie’s. As she was the bosses son’s wife it was worse for her as they saw her as ‘jail bait’; if anyone were to fall into her trap they’d get the ‘can’ from Curly.
Curly would tell stories around about them, how he kept a glove on full of Vaseline to keep it soft for her; ‘That’s a dirty thing to tell around.’ George quite rightly stated, this maybe-another reason for her need for friendship, as she saw Curly neither as a friend or a lover. You get the impression she only married him for money.
The fact that you never find out her real name suggests on its own that she was avoided and isolated. In a way she brought the loneliness on her self because of her flirtatious attitude; the workers felt they couldn’t become friends, as she wanted something else. ‘She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame, so that her body was thrown forward,’ was how she was described when meeting George and Lennie for the first time.
At the end of her story her loneliness brings Lennie and her together, as she had no one else to talk to because everyone else was outside. Lennie tried to avoid talking to her but she drew him in; ‘How’d you like it if no one talked to you?’ she asked Lennie. She was talking about her loneliness and need for someone to talk to who wasn’t worried about getting the ‘can’ from Curly. Lennie was more worried about not being able to ‘tend the rabbits’ than getting the sack from Curly. They started to talk about stroking soft things (in a way this was Lennies “hobby”), which was the biggest mistake of her life. As she let him stroke her gentle hair; ‘Here – feel right here,’ she obviously didn’t understand his obsession was so powerful and how corrupt his mental condition really was. When Lennie wouldn’t let go she began to scream and he broke her neck. She was probably in a way glad for it all to be over, as living on a ranch with someone she didn’t love wasn’t what she wanted; ‘I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.’ She had hoped for better things, and could have got better things if it weren’t for her mum as she thought that her mum had stolen the letters she received from a friend in Hollywood. She realised she was unlikely to get the same chance again; ‘Coulda been in the movies.’
This crippled the relationship between George, Lennie and Candy. George knew Lennie was going to be killed, even though Curly didn’t really care about his wife, he wanted revenge on Lennie after he broke his hand. Candy had realised now Lennie was gone they wouldn’t go ‘live of the fatta the lan’’, as it was really George and Lennie’s dream, and it wouldn’t be the same without him; ‘You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George?’ George and Candy would presumably still remain friends, but not as good as they could have been. Candy would live the remainder of his life possibly even more lonely than before, without his beloved dog. He could get one of the pups, but it wouldn’t be the same, as he would probably die before it was fully-grown, and he was to old to do anything with it. When George killed Lennie he wanted Lennie to die knowing that he was loved dearly: ‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s the thing I want ya to know’. He knew that if he didn’t kill George, alike to when Candy left his dog for Carlson, he would forever regret someone like Curley kill him heartlessly.
In ‘Of Mice and Men’ most people on the ranch lived a forsaken life. Some stood more out more than others, the most obvious being Crooks, because he was the only black man on the ranch, and during the American depression they were treated like freaks, not equals.
Candy also stood out because he was the oldest figure on the ranch, and you could see that he made no real attempt to make friends until George and Lennie arrived. Maybe he saw them together and thought they might understand what it was like to have a real friendship, and he wanted to be part of it. Curly’s wife was clearly a lonely figure, mainly because she was the only girl on the ranch and because she was Curly’s wife, no one dared to get to involved with her in fear of what might happen to them if Curly found out. George and Lennie weren’t as lonely as the others, but because they actually experienced real friendship, they felt lonely in a way as they couldn’t make any other trusting friends as they were on the move to much. Lennie was lonelier than George was, although he didn’t really notice or mind, he was left out of all the fun and the few games they played on the ranch. In this novel Steinbeck wanted to let out his feelings, and to let people know how it used to be during the American depression. It may have been a true story, relating to one of the ranches he worked at, or it could be a based on a real life on the ranch, but not one which he had experienced.
