“And then from the direction of the state highway came the sound of footsteps on crisp sycamore leaves. The rabbits hurried noiselessly for cover. A stilted heron laboured up into the air and pounded down the river.”
The sense of isolation is triggered from the word go as George and Lennie are dumped from the bus in the middle of nowhere. George Milton and Lennie Small seem to have a father-son relationship. But, eventhough they have a good relationship, there are flaws. George has the huge burden of caring for Lennie all of the time. As a result of this, George is isolated and lonely. George desperately wants to get his life right for a change but because of Lennie he can’t do this, as Lennie does ‘bad things’ but not on purpose. This isolates George even more, as he cannot stay in one place for any great amount of time.
Lennie delights in simple pleasures and from that you can also see the father son relationship between George and Lennie. Lennie looks up to George, as he looks after him, he mimics George because he wants to be just like him. Lennie idolises George;
“Lennie who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right. He pulled his hat down a little more over his eyes, the way George’s hat was.”
Lennie compliments George here, showing how he looks up to him. But the way George speaks to Lennie is not very nice, but you can understand why George would be frustrated if he had to explain everything to Lennie more than once every time. George and Lennie have a classic parent-child exchange when Lennie has a mouse, which he could “pet it with his thumb while we walked along”, showing that it is like a comfort for Lennie, like a baby.
When Lennie asks for ketchup with his beans, George explodes and explains what he could have had, without Lennie;
‘If I was alone I could live so easy. I would get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month came I would take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why I could stay in a cat house all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of. An’ I could do all that every damn month.’
George’s life is affected by caring for Lennie and he is haunted by thoughts of the life he could have had. Trying to do the right thing exhausts him, he has had enough of it. But after he explodes at Lennie he is ashamed at the cruelty and truth of his words.
But what cheers them both is the dream they share, and the comfort it gives;
“Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then to into town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to’”
But George and Lennie are not like everyone else, they are different.
“’With us it ain’t like that, we got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.”
Lennie broke in. “But not us! An’ why! Because … because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why”.
The scary thing is that George can see the future for them on their own, the desolate solitude. And so they see themselves as fortunate because they have someone who cares. Lennie is very fortunate that he has George because without George, Lennie wouldn’t have anyone and so would not know what to do. Even though George is in some ways fortunate to have Lennie, as he knows what it is like to be alone, but being with Lennie also makes him the most isolated character in the novel. George could have so much without Lennie, that even the idea of having a relationship “ ‘I coulda had a girl’” is as much of a dream as the little ranch they hope to own. When the reader appreciates that George has had to forego love because of his responsibility for Lennie, the occasional cruelty and resentment of his outbursts is sad but understandable. Lennie is a burden on George and George is exhausted looking after Lennie and carries all responsibilities for both of them, this makes the reader sympathise with George when he has sudden outbursts the reader can understand why. The main reason that George is the most isolated character, being with Lennie; is because he is not able to have adult companionship, there is no exchange of ideas, just one way thoughts. George only has child companionship;
“ ‘What you gonna say tomorrow when the boss asks you questions?”
Lennie stopped chewing and swallowed, his face was concentrated I…. I ain’t gonna… say a word.’
‘Good boy! That’s fine, Lennie! Maybe you’re getting’ better, when we get the couple of acres I can let you tend the rabbits all night. ‘Specially if you remember as good as that:
Lennie choked with pride”
The reader can only empathise with their situation because they seem so abandoned.
Their dream has become a mantra, it has a rhythm and such warmth that Lennie knows It himself. Their dream is a contrast with their own life, their own life is so harsh because they have got nothing, which makes them even more lonely and isolated. However, they both recognise the loneliness and isolation of other men and are thankful they have got each other. But the other characters are less fortunate. The minor characters in the book point out the sense of being lost and alone.
The first of which is Candy. Candy is the ‘welcome party’ to the ranch; an old swamper with one hand and only his dog to live for. But when Carlson shoots his dog he loses everything, the dog was all that he had. Even though the dog was in a bad condition, couldn’t eat properly, smells, can’t walk properly and has rheumatism, the dog is a mirror of Candy. His life has little meaning and he takes pleasure in the smallest bit of gossip. He lives an empty life.
Candy knows that he is just a cleaner and when his dog is shot there is a terrible sense of loss and realisation that signifies the end for him. Once the creature is beyond any use, even to itself, it is destroyed. His own fate is similar. When the boss does give Candy the sack all he will have is the $250 compensation for losing his hand plus whatever the boss would give him. The money would not last very long after that Candy would starve or have to go and beg for money, he would be living purely on charity until he died. His future is as bleak as the dog’s now it is shot. The one thing that makes Candy take his mind off his dog is when George and Lennie talk about their dream. The possibility that opens up for him, having his own bit of land he is prepared to give up his whole life savings, this is how desperate he is!
The reader can understand why Candy is angry at Curly’s wife when Lennie accidentally kills her;
“You God damn tramp,’ he said viciously, ‘you done it, didn’t you! I s’pose you’re glad. Everybody knowed you’d mess things up. You wasn’t no good. You ain’t no good now you lousy tart.’”
Him cursing her when she is dead does not seem right at first but when you realise what future he now has to face, the reader cannot help but sympathise with him.
“You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we George! You an’ me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, George! Can’t we!
Before George answered, Candy dropped his head and looked down at the hay, he knew.”
His future is now going to be so horrible you can’t help but feel sorry for him too.
He is lonely and isolated because he is old and disabled but Crooks has been isolated more than anyone because of racial discrimination.
Crooks personifies the feelings of loneliness and isolation. He is isolated because he is disabled and black. He is not allowed to cross doorways into the other men’s territory, this isolates Crooks because he cannot go in and talk to any of the other men. Crooks is treated as a second class citizen who has to sleep in the barn with the animals and the manure pile outside the window.
The one time Crooks was actually allowed in the bunk house with the other men was one Christmas, they thought t would be funny to organise a fight with him and the other men. Crooks is not only mentally abused but also physically abused, this is a reason to why he is so cynical and pessimistic. He is also very scornful about what white people have got, as he has got nothing. He is especially scornful when he is in his own room with Lennie and he starts talking about, what if George did not come back from town Lennie is faithful to George and wants to protect him, and is likened to a dog;
“Lennie growled back to his seat on his nail keg. ‘Ain’t nobody goin’ to talk no hurt to George.”
Crooks tries to reassure George and explains what it is like for him with no one;
“ ‘S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that? S’pose you had to sit out here and read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody to be near him.’ He whined”
Crooks shows us what it is to be like to be a black man living in a white man’s world. This sums up his isolation from everyone else.
When Candy also comes in to join them in the room, Candy starts to talk about their dream. But Crooks is very cynical about this, he has seen too many men try and fail before him;
“ ‘You guys is just kiddin’ yourself. You’ll talk about it a hell of a lot, but you won’t get no land. You’ll be a swamper here till they take you out in a box. Hell, I seen too many guys. Lennie here’ll quit an’ be on the road in two, three weeks. Seems like ever’ guy got land in his head.’”
Crooks has got a dim and bleak outlook on life and is cynical because he has developed a shell, Crooks has shrivelled into himself. But, even though Crooks may not want to, he momentarily believes in the dream too!
Crooks is an intelligent man, he can read and has got a certain level of education but this makes his sense of isolation more profound. Crooks’ pride and cynicism stops him being able to make a connection with other people on the ranch so, in a way, Crooks isolates himself by letting his pride get the better of him. Crooks was at his most open just as Curley’s wife walks in but then Crooks crawls back into his shell again;
“ ‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’”
‘Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego – nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and his voice was toneless.’
For a moment she stood over him as though waiting for him to move so that she could whip at him again; but Crooks sat perfectly still, his eyes averted, everything that might be hurt drawn in.”
He is also isolated and once again singled out most of all when Curley’s wife makes a comment about being touched by a black man, no one would believe Crooks, he had no status or power in that society whatsoever. Curley’s wife would have fulfilled her treats. But, unlike Crooks, Curley’s wife is isolated because she is thought of as a ‘tart’;
“ ‘Know what I think?’ George did not answer. ‘Well I think Curley’s married … a tart.’”
But I do not believe that she is all bad, it is just that no one else will give her a chance or listen to her. All she wants is companionship but can’t get any. She is trapped in a loveless marriage. All the make up she wears, although it is provocative, it is a need for attention and love;
“ She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.”
This is the only way that she gets attention, it may be the worst kind of attention but it is better that nothing for her.
Curley’s wife did not marry a very nice man and she knows it. In her final conversation with Lennie she confesses everything to him, although he may not be listening. She explains that: “ ‘I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella’” Her view on Curley is not very promising for a two week old marriage but I do not think that Curley thinks much of her either. But you can understand why she feels that way towards Curley, as we really see what Curley is like when she dies, he just finds it an excuse to shoot someone. Curley has no heart at all and is just a bully to the very end of the story. But even if Curley’s wife didn’t marry Curley or be with him, life would never have met her expectations.
When she is talking to Lennie, it doesn’t matter who it is, she is just happy that she has someone to talk to. But her being happy and finding companionship for that short time, and being with Lennie, leads to her death. She only ever wanted companionship and when she does eventually find it, Lennie doesn’t even listen and he accidentally kills her. But this makes the reader sympathise with her, as the one time she finds someone to talk to, and tell her feelings to, it kills her.
All Curley’s wife ever wanted was to find some affection and companionship. Yet she was not even worthy of a name, all she was, was a possession of Curley’s, Curley’s wife, which makes her seem even more tragic and isolated.
But the ultimate isolation, throughout the whole novel, is when George shoots Lennie. George knows, that when he does this he will be like “every other guy” out there as he explained before. “ ‘Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.’” He makes a massive and terrible sacrifice for Lennie. He will no longer have companionship, but he will not have the burden of Lennie anymore.
Steinbeck shows great compassion for the isolation and loneliness of each and every character in the novel, especially George but also Crooks is a very big part of isolation too. As Steinbeck travelled himself, he understands what they went through and explains perfectly what it is like for each of them. He makes the reader sympathise with every single character.