Steinbeck also portrays loneliness through characterisation. He uses sexism, racism and ageism to get his message across. One example of this is when George meets the old, decaying Candy and his antiquated dog, he tells him about the "black" man called Crooks. Candy stated to the inarticulate George "give the Stable Buck hell. “Ya see the stable buck's a nigger". This was typical of 1930's America as black people were thought of as inferior to white people. This suggests that Crooks was friendless. He has his "own bunk in a separate nigger room" and "he scattered personal possessions around the floor; for being alone he could leave things about". Crooks is obviously suffering from racial discrimination as he is the only black man on the ranch and is not allowed in the bunkroom with the other men because of his colour. He therefore, had a very lonely existence.
Steinbeck also uses Candy to portray loneliness. The disconsolate Candy becomes lonely after his beloved dog was shot. The men in the ranch describe the dog as a "stinking hound" and an "old bastard". Candy feels dejected as he says "I wish somebody would shoot me when I become useless". Candy is a useless cripple and his only companion is his old dog. He is too old to go out with the other ranch workers. As George and Lennie aspire to have a small piece of land and a farm Candy quickly latches on to the dream, perhaps as a way out of loneliness and a means of assured companionship and usefulness. “I aint much good with on’y one hand” “but I could tend the chickens and hoe the garden some” In this quote we realise that candy desperately wants this, again, perhaps to avoid loneliness which he will have to face. This proves that Steinbeck describes Candy as lonely character.
Perhaps the loneliest character, which Steinbeck creates in the novel, is Curly's wife. She is the only female in the ranch and although she is married, you never witness the distinct couple of Curly and his wife together; they are always searching for each other. Curly's wife is lonely and, as a result of this, she was endlessly trying to make friends with George and Lenny. She tries to convince Lennie to speak to her despite what George was declaring. Curly's wife remarked, "You can talk to me, don't listen to George". But, Lennie didn't agree with what she has to say. Another piece of evidence, to suggest that Curly's wife is lonely is that she had no name! This proves that no one ever stays long enough to get to know her. Curly's wife also flirts with the male workers of the ranch to seek attention. The workers think she is a "tart" but she is an insecure, lonely woman and this is shown when she tells Lennie "I never get to talk to anyone, or else, Curly gets mad". My personal opinion is that Curly's wife married Curly for company, not for love, this I proved when we discover that Curley went to a brothel. There is nothing for his wife to do on the ranch. “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” From this we learn that Steinbeck presents her, as like Lennie, as a victim of the cruel world, subject to loneliness and the desire for friendship.
Steinbeck uses George and Lennie as a contrast because they are the only people to have anyone to talk to. To demonstrate this, Lennie exclaimed "But not us because.........because I got you to look after me and you have got me to look after you and that's why". During the novel's opening and closing chapters, Steinbeck describes the activity of the natural world. These passages are rich and interpretable in many directions: it's worth singling out the first of the novel's many allusions to rabbits. Steinbeck writes that the rabbits happily "sit on the sand," and are then disturbed by the arrival of George and Lennie - they "hurry noiselessly for cover" (2). Not until later does this little detail take on a richer significance - rabbits, we learn, represent for Lennie (and George, to a lesser extent) the dream of obtaining a farm of their own and living "off the fatta the lan'" (15). The scattering of the rabbits at the beginning suggests already that this dream will prove elusive. Steinbeck illustrates Slim to say to George and Lennie "I've never seen a couple like you two before. It is not normal in this area". You never read about Slim in abundance which must also indicate he is a lonely character.
Because Lennie thinks in concrete terms of his own pleasure, he equates the tending of rabbits - whose soft fur he wishes to pet - with the attainment of utter happiness. Thus he has developed a shorthand for referring to the plan George and he share to start a farm of their own - "I remember about the rabbits" (5). Lennie takes deep pride in the notion that he would be entrusted to raise the rabbits, to protect them, to feed them out of their alfalfa patch. He places the entirety of his future happiness on this one image of caring for rabbits.
This dream of the rabbits becomes literally a dream at the end of the novel, when Lennie hallucinates a giant rabbit who tells him that he will never be allowed to tend rabbits. This highlights the extent to which Lennie bases his entire life around the goal of tending rabbits. Indeed, his only thought after doing something "bad" - whether killing a puppy or killing Curley's wife, all "bad things" seem roughly equivalent in Lennie's mind - is that George will not allow him to tend the rabbits. The manner in which he fails to see his actions in terms of good and evil, and instead views them as good or bad insofar as they are conducive to his ability to pet rabbits, reveals definitively how unfit Lennie is for society.
As the novel progresses we discover that George is very repetitive and almost hypnotic about loneliness. “guys like us… are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place…” this repetitiveness could be associated with insanity, as when people are insane they tend to worry about things and repeat it, over and over. George describes the life of migrant workers as a lonely business. How the migrant workers are always moving ranch, make some money, “blow their stake” and move to another ranch. This is an example of how lonely life is on the ranch; they never stay long enough to build a relationship, ending in everyone being alone. Another indication of the loneliness to come is within the first few pages, when he and Lennie arrive at a very lonely spot, with no habitation for miles around, and with the book set in Soledad, meaning loneliness, Steinbeck had planned this out very well and used many methods to present loneliness on the ranch. Steinbeck uses small, almost unnoticeable things to refer to loneliness, as just subtly mentioning George playing solitaire, which is a symbol of loneliness, when Lennie is not around. We learn that George had to “cover up” for Lennie when he feels he has to lie and tell the boss that Lennie is his cousin, rather than admits he needs company. Steinbeck is an expert at presenting loneliness in such a subtle manner.
The last line that Steinbeck wrote, read, "Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys". Curly isn't used to being with someone for so long therefore he does not understand why they were depressed.
Another example which Steinbeck uses to illustrate why these men are lonely was when Whit describes that he has a friend who was in a magazine; he said, "Do you remember Bill Tenner. He worked here three years ago?" This emphasizes how these ranch workers never developed relationships.
In conclusion, John Steinbeck expertly portrays the theme of loneliness in "Of Mice and Men" in an interesting and original manner.