‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the lonlinest guys in the world. They aint got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you no they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They aint got nothing to look forward to.
With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we ain’t got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for anybody gives a damn. But not us because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why. We’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof.’
Lennie gets all excited when he hears about how good his future will turn out to be, they both share a dream; this is to own a little house and a couple of acres of land, a cow, some pigs, a vegetable patch this is a dream that makes their friendship much stronger because they both believe in the same things, also they both want to achieve the same dream.
The only reason why Lennie does not fell lonely is because he has George to look out for him, George acts like a father for him, he warns Lennie about Curley as soon as he leaves the bunk house George tells Lennie. ‘If he comes in here again you move clear to the other side of the room.’ This shows that George is always looking out for Lennie and acts like a parent.
Curley feels that he is bigger and better than anyone else, he is an extrovert, this is a person that takes out there anger on the other people, he lashes his anger on other people this is because he knows tat if he doesn’t win then people will think that the big guy should have picked on some one that was his own size, but, if he wins the fight then he will be praised and would have been thought of as a big person because he beat a person that was much bigger than him, also he will fell much bigger as a person and then wont feel over crowded by the other bigger people around him. Curley feel jealous of all of the bigger men around him this is because he feels weaker and smaller than he already is, he gets over his jealousy by having fights with the other men in the ranch. ‘He glance was at once calculating and pugnacious. Lennie squirmed under the look and shifted his feet nervously. Curley stepped gingerly close to Lennie.’ Curley always has to blame some one else, he could never take the blame for what he had become.
As Lennie is a bigger person than Curley, he feels intimidated by Lennie’s size, as an extrovert he has the need to lash out on Lennie this being his problem.
Another Character in this novel is Candy the reason for his loneliness is because he has just lost his dog. Candy’s dog was his only companion and friend that he had, he had known this dog since it was a little puppy he had raised and nurtured this dog. Candy was too attached with his dog he did not try to make any friends as he thought that his dog, companion, would always be there for him, but later in the novel when Candy’s dog died Candy didn’t have any body to talk to or turn to. Carlson asked Slim to give him one of the pups that he had received from his other dog. Carlson only asked slim because he wanted to shoot and get rid of the old smelly dog.
Disappointingly Candy lets Carlson shoot his dog, it was silent in the room and it was very tense,
‘A shot was sounded in the distance. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent’
After the dog is shot dead he feels like the only reason for it being shot is that it was old, and he refers him-self to the dog and feels as though he should be shot after he gets old just like the dog, he knows that when he gets old and useless he would be needed at the ranch.
The final and loneliest character in the play is Crooks this is because he is isolated by all of the white people, the only way in which he passes time is by educating himself with his books,
‘A man goes crazy without friends’
The reason why Crooks is isolated and why he is always left on his own is because of the issue of racism at that time in America, in the whole novel the only racism is to Crooks this is because he is the only character that is black, Candy calls him a ‘nice fella’, he knows how he feels and feels sorry for him. Crooks lashes out at people,
‘Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room,’
When Lennie comes into Crooks’s room, he makes Lennie feel uncomfortable, the reason why he does this is because the uncomfortably of some-one else makes Crooks feel much better about him self, he makes Lennie feel uncomfortable to show him how he feels having no one around.
The way in which Crooks seeks comfort is through his books, this makes him pass the time, after talking to Lennie and finding out about the dream he realises that he needs friends to talk to and needs them to comfort him.
I think that the people in ‘Of Mice and Men are the most loneliest people, this is because of the great depression in America where every one was looking for work, no body had time to make friends, after, when they had got to know a person they would have move to another job so they would always be losing their friends that they had made.
