The false sense of optimism increases at the point in the book in which Candy begins to get involved in George and Lennie’s dream. When Candy enters the room ‘George was on guard immediately’ and ‘watched him suspiciously’. This shows George’s reluctance to include Candy in their dream and his fear of Candy hearing the dream and possibly destroying it. Keeping dreams quiet and hidden from other ranch workers appears to be quite common in Steinbeck’s novel. These dreams are often kept secret to begin with as though each character is afraid that saying their dreams aloud could potentially destroy them and is how George feels when Candy intrudes on their dream. Candy, in his willingness to be included in the dream is the one who brings their dream – temporarily – to reality as they even begin discussing suitable prices their dream will cost to purchase, ‘I could get it for six hundred bucks’.
Through this dream another theme is highlighted- the attitudes towards the old and disabled during the 1900s. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ the shooting of Candy’s dog represents the fate awaiting anyone who has outlived their purpose. Once ‘the best damn sheep dog’ on the ranch, Candy’s dog is now debilitated by age. Candy’s sentimental attachment to the animal—his plea that Carlson let the dog live for no other reason than that Candy has ‘Had him since he was a pup’—means nothing at all on the ranch. Although Carlson promises to kill the dog painlessly, his insistence that the old animal must die supports a cruel natural law that the strong will dispose of the weak. Candy internalizes this lesson, for he fears that he himself is nearing an age when he will no longer be useful at the ranch, and therefore no longer welcome.
Candy is also near to the end of his useful life on the ranch and knows he has little to look forward to. He believes the boss will ‘can (him) purty soon’. This is due to Candy’s old ages and the ‘stump of his wrist’ where a hand should’ve been. When Candy first came to the ranch he says he ‘wisht somebody’d shoot (him)’. This is exactly what Slim says about shooting Candy’s old and crippled dog and how he would feel if he reached that stage in life- ‘I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I get old an’ a cripple’. This reflects the attitudes towards the old and crippled during the 1900s. Candy appears embarrassed and ashamed of his disability as he ‘Scratched the stump of his wrist nervously’. It shows the way disabled people were made to feel about themselves and how they were not accepted into society as they were. When Candy loses his dog-the only companionship he has enjoyed- it is almost the end of his life as he ‘ain’t much good with o’ny one hand’ and now has ‘no relative nor nothing’ left. However Candy is given a renewed comfort, strength and self-respect by the prospect of a part-ownership of the dream farm with Lennie and George.
Of Mice and Men teaches a grim lesson about the nature of human existence. Nearly all of the characters, including George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Each desires the comfort of a friend, but will settle for the attentive ear of a stranger. Curley’s wife admits to Candy, Crooks, and Lennie that she is unhappily married and Crooks tells Lennie that life is no good without a companion to turn to in times of confusion and how ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody’. The characters are rendered helpless by their isolation, and yet, even at their weakest, they seek to destroy those who are even weaker than they. One example of this is the shooting of Candy’s old dog but perhaps the most powerful example of this cruel tendency is when Crooks criticizes Lennie’s dream of the farm and his dependence on George. Having just admitted his own vulnerabilities-he is a black man with a crooked back who longs for companionship in 1900s America-Crooks attacks Lennie’s own weaknesses. He scares Lennie into thinking what would happens if ‘George went into town (..) and (he) never heard of him no more’ He continues to describe to Lennie the horrendous treatment he would receive once George was gone and how he’d be taken ‘to the booby hatch’ and how they would ‘tie (him) up with a collar, like a dog’. This represents the extremities people would take against the mentally disabled and how they were treated this way just because they were different.
Crooks himself is an illiterate black cripple who tends horses on the ranch. He has long been the victim of oppressive violence and prejudice and has retired behind a shield of detachment and reserve. Crooks is also treated in the same way and is kept apart from the rest of the ranch workers simply because he is black. Lennie is naïve to the discrimination present in his society as he is unable to process these thoughts due to his disability. He asks Crooks ‘Why ain’t (Crooks) wanted?’ back in the bunk house and Crooks simply replies ‘Cause I’m black’…’ I can’t play because I’m black’. His natural personality is suppressed and deadened by years of antagonism. Crooks automatic rejection of friendship- ‘you ain’t wanted in my room’- has more to do with the anguish of his loneliness than with anything else. Crooks allows himself the fantasy of hoeing a patch of garden on Lennie's farm one day and expresses his desires to be included in Lennie and George’s dream – ‘If you…guys would want a hand to work for nothing (…), why I’d come an’ lend a hand’. His new found confidence and self-respect encourages him not only destroy Lennie’s hope and dreams but also try to counter the intrusion of Curley’s wife but is humiliated by her vicious threats and how she could get Crooks ‘strung up a tree so easy it ain’t even funny’ and immediately returns back to a reality where he is alone and with no one. He doesn’t even give himself the chance to continue dreaming and now his ego has been destroyed, he gives up on George’s and Lennie’s dream farm- ‘Well, jus’ forget it (…) I didn’t mean it.’
Another theme that is emphasised on during the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is sex discrimination. Curley’s wife is a victim of the bigotry that is present in the novel and was present during the 20th century in America. Curley’s wife is described as ‘A tart’ with ‘full, rouged lips’, ‘heavily made up’ eyes and ‘red fingernails’. This immediately attracts the attention of the reader as we already know that she is a married woman. It raises questions as to why Curley’s wife is dressed so inappropriately and heavily packed with make-up. Curley’s wife remains nameless throughout the novel which may be Steinbeck protesting against the treatment and degradation of women in society of the time. She is presented as and remains an unnamed character, and her degraded status personifies the role to which women were downgraded to in early-twentieth century American society. She is one of the most crucial characters in the novel as she exemplifies the loneliness of all other men on the ranch.
One aspect that relates to all others is her loneliness that engulfs and her life and her absolute inhibition to find companionship. Curley’s wife has no friends on the ranch and her ‘passion’ to communicate with anyone makes her attempt to find some kind of sympathy with lowly regarded people such as Crooks and Lennie. Men on the ranch perceive Curley’s wife as a ‘floozy’ and a ‘tart’. The only reason she parades herself is to get attention because the only thing she wants in life is attention. She believes that ‘ain’t none of them cares how (she) gotta live’. Curley's wife is perceived by Candy to be the cause of all that goes wrong at Soledad: "Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good" he says to her dead body in his grief. The workers, George included, see her as having "the eye" for every guy on the ranch, and they cite this as the reason for Curley's insecurity and hot-headed temperament. But Curley's wife adds complexity to her own characterization, confessing to Lennie that she dislikes Curley because he is angry all the time and saying that she comes around because she is lonely and just wants someone with whom to talk. Like George and Lennie, she once had a dream. However hers was a dream of becoming an actress and living in Hollywood, but it went unrealized, leaving her full of self-pity, married to an angry man, living on a ranch without friends, and viewed as a trouble-maker by everyone. Leaving to become an actress in Hollywood is Curley’s wife’s interpretation of the American Dream. Before her death, Curley's wife confesses her desire to be a movie star- ‘was gonna put (her) in the movies’- ‘Coulda been in the movies’. Curley’s wife seems almost desperate to tell Lennie about her dreams. It is ironic that she confides in someone who appears to have no interest or understanding of what she is saying. This emphasises the deep loneliness she experiences on the ranch that is full of lonely guys.
Steinbeck attracts the reader’s interest by exploring different kinds of themes. It is obvious that these themes are primarily negative, for example loneliness and isolation, broken dreams, prejudice and outcast, exploitation, victims of the time and insecurity. All of these themes give the impression that this book is about sadness and loneliness. A key feature of the book is the balance between the good and bad. The dream is never realised yet much has been generated by the dreaming. Its ending is unhappy yet much in it is optimistic. George’s love for Lennie, Lennie’s adoration of George and the natural dignity of Slim are all positive, good things. Nor is Lennie’s death wholly pessimistic. Lennie dies at the hand of the one man he trusts, painlessly, happy, free in the open and still believing in his dream as perhaps he might have died on the farm had they ever bought it. Many characters are lonely and this motivates them to look for an alternative way of life. They are continually searching, often without knowing what they are looking for. Different characters seek comfort in different things- for loneliness. Loneliness is shown in various ways in this novel through poverty (George and Lennie), race (Crooks), gender (Curley’s wife) and age (Candy).
