Crooks is a black man that is isolated because of the racist society of the early Twentieth Century. The loneliness that Crooks feels is created by the discrimination of the white ranchers towards him.
Crooks does not know how to relate to other people because he is mistreated, he is disrespected and isolated: he can’t participate at the daily events with the other white people, he doesn’t know how to control his frustration and therefore is angry at everyone.
“ 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 stink to me!”
Moreover, no one likes living in a barn and working with horses all day long, Crooks spends all his nights reading to take shelter from society.
Crooks is fascinated by George and Lennie’s strong friendship
“Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?”
Crooks asks such questions, because having no friends he doesn’t know how it feels. he tries in every way to seek understanding and to begin friendships with other people, he would do anything to come out of his solitude and depression.
“…If you…guys would want a hand to work for nothing – Just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand. I ain’t so crippled I can work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.”
Crooks, too, experiences the emotional bleakness of the majority of the characters drawn by Steinbeck in this story, as shown in his jealousy of George and Lennie's friendship and his desire to join in the dream of part-owning their own ranch. Crooks wants to participate in George and Lennie's dream not only because he wants to leave the hostile ranch he works in but because he too wants to be involved in their friendship.
Candy is an old, physically disabled swamper. He has worked on the ranch for a great part of his life, and it is on this very farm he was victim of a machinery accident which cost his hand, leaving him behind money but loneliness. His old age and his handicap make him feel useless, this thought makes him more “handicapped” than his missing hand. He feels like a useless old man who is wasting the last few years of his miserable life.
He is haunted by the idea of losing his job because he is a cripple and that this will then further lead him to death.
“ I got hurt four years ago. They’ll can purty soon. Jus’as soon as I cant swamp out no bunk houses they’ll put me on the county”
Candy thinks that no one wants to be his friend because he has missing a hand. He is often invited by the other people on the ranch to drink and play cards but always refuses because he has a very low self-esteem, so Candy is putting a loneliness tag on himself and not the other people.
At the end he tries to make friends joining George and Lennie’s dream: to have their own ranch. This is one of Candy’s feeble attempts to make place for himself in society, and to give himself a goal in life.
“I’ll wash the dishes an’ little chick stuff like that. But I’ll be on your own place, an’ I’ll be let to work on our own place”.
After Candy lost his dog he felt even more lonely than before, his dog was the only possession Candy actually owned and that he could take care of by himself. After his death Candy owned nothing, not one important thing.
The relationship between Candy and his dog is the same as that between George and Lennie.
While George had Lennie and the other ranchers had each other, Candy on the other hand had no one, and this led him to depression and loneliness.
No one else in the book shared the same dreams as Candy. This is why he so desperately seeks attention from George and Lenny. He even offers them money, but as it’s well known money doesn’t buy friendship
“Maybe if I give you money, you’ll let me how in the garden even after I ain’t no good at it”.
Curley's wife is another pivotal character and her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be another failed attempt of escaping from her own spiral of loneliness. In addition, his failure to satisfy her either emotionally or physically leads her to seek solace in the other men even those at the very bottom of the social hierarchy of the ranch.
Curley’s wife is a tease to everybody on the ranch. She will dress and act in a provocative way. She uses her beautiful body to attract attention; she does this so she will feel less lonely. These acts make her feel wanted and important, because she always has everyone's eyes on her, but at the same it gives her a bad reputation, and so none of the ranchers wants to talk to her. This seek for attention prevents her from getting rid of the sexual image the other men have of her.
“Maybe you better go along to you own house now. We don’t want no trouble”. George sees Curley's wife as a very dangerous threat, he soon refers to her as “rat trap”. This shows us how radical sexism was like in the 1930s and how woman were treated in that society.
Although the sympathy we at first feel for her soon diminishes due to her cruelty, and the she treats: Candy Crooks and Lennie referring to them as 'a nigger an' a dum- dum and a lousy ol' sheep' moreover she dismisses their dream as 'Balony'.
Curley’s wife notices how simple-minded Lennie is and takes advantage of that situation. She knows that Lennie is the only person, with whom she can discuss her problems. Her type of loneliness is caused when there is no one around you to talk to.
This underlines the sexist society of the time, a society that didn't care of a women's opinion; a society that only looked at women in cat houses and brothels. Curley's wife was aware of this and tried to seek attention through her body,
Maybe Curley’s wife demanded too much of Lenny’s simple mind, more that what he could give to her: without meaning to, he kills her. Curley’s wife’s death can be seen both as a tragedy and as something positive because she ended all of her sufferings.
All these three characters are very alike even though they have different types of solitude, because everyone tries to solve their problems in some way. All three also try to get closer to George and Lenni’s friendship.
Solitude is an inevitable fact of life, an important phase of growth that not even the strongest people can avoid.
