The men are all lonely, and their only release is through dreams – like George and Lennie’s - or at the brothel. George and Lennie dream of land – Crooks says that this is very common: “I seen hundreds of men come by on the road … an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head.” Bill Tenner, who left the ranch before George and Lennie arrived, dreamt of being the “Dark Rider” in a comic. Steinbeck describes the “Western magazines ranch-men love to read and scoff at and secretly believe.” Candy finds relief from his loneliness in his dog; once the “best damn sheep dog” Candy had ever known. Crooks looks back to the past, describing how “My old man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres. The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, an’ some of them was pretty nice.”
Crooks, the stable buck is a particularly lonely character. He is black, and a cripple and consequently isolated from the rest of the workers. He says to Lennie “They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me”. He understands the problem of loneliness, and cynically suggests that this is the only reason why George and Lennie stay together “George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. It’s just bein’ with another guy. That’s all.” There is a hint of resentment, and envy, in this bitter statement. Later Crooks confides more in Lennie – and he says “S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk-house and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that? … A guy needs somebody – to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody.” When Candy comes to join Crooks and Lennie, Steinbeck comments “It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger.”
Ranch life, whilst it has some sense of camaraderie, is essentially very isolated. Candy says “A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ast no questions” although Slim is an obvious exception to this. His tone “invited confidence without demanding it.” Loneliness breeds misery and bad-nature in the ranch workers. George comments that “They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin’ to fight all the time.”
Although George has Lennie’s companionship, it is clear that he is also lonely. In Chapter three George confides in Slim. Steinbeck notes that “He wanted to talk.” George was understandably unable to share real conversation with Lennie; and needed to talk about Lennie. Steinbeck describes how “George’s voice was taking on the tone of confession.” The very fact that George shares the dream - he “sat entranced with his own picture” after describing it – shows that George is also lonely.
