Loneliness.
Loneliness is a very key part of the migrant workers life. They have no time for meaningful friendships or long relationships. Little trust is shared and the men work solely for themselves. Many of the characters are lonely and this motivates them to look for an alternative way of life. This is one of the reasons why there are drifters; they are continually searching often not knowing what they are looking for. Characters are also lonely because of something within themselves, something which seems to make their loneliness inevitable. Different characters seek comfort and solace in different things. For Candy it is his dog, for George and Lennie it’s each other, for Crooks it’s his pride and his skill at pitching horseshoes. In the novel George and Lennie find themselves a ‘Few miles of Soledad.’ This is a real place in California and its name, which is Spanish can mean loneliness or lonely place. George describes himself and Lennie as the sort of people who ‘are the loneliness guys in the world.’ Although the boss of the ranch thinks that George exploits Lennie, all the ranch workers come to see that the reason for their relationship is mutual loneliness. Candy’s relationship with his dog is much like the relationship between George and Lennie. Candy has a parental role towards his dog, just as George has a parental role towards Lennie. Lennie can be compared with the dog in the sense that he listens, but does not talk; this provides comfort for those who talk to him about their feelings. ‘He ain’t no good to you Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him Candy?’ Carlson is unsentimental about Candy’s dog as he can see no further practical use for it. Although his suggestion is perhaps reasonable, he seems oblivious to the strong bond between Candy and his pet. Lennie turns to petting animals for comfort. He means no harm to the creatures and sees them as on a similar level to himself. Lennie is unaware of the feelings of the pups as he heavily touches and plays with them, this causes the ranch workers to become concerned. ‘Well you ain’t bein’ kind to him..’ With these words Carlson is ironically ‘sentencing’ Lennie who will later suffer the same fate as the dog. Carlson assumes that Candy can soon get another pet, just as at the end of the novel he seems to assume that George can easily get another friend. From this we can see that Carlson, like some of the other characters does not appreciate the bonds that occur. Candy and his dog are obviously very alike to George and Lennie, even to the way the dog follows Candy around in the same way as Lennie follows George. Just as Candy feels tied down by his relationship with his dog, so George feels trapped by his sense of responsibility for Lennie. Curley’s wife is one of the loneliest characters in the novel; she has no identity, she is seen as an object, a possession of Curley’s. Curley’s wife is seen as a flirtatious ‘tart’ by the other ranch-hands, true, Curley’s wife does flirt, she is very conscious of the effect this has on men, but she is not a tart. She wants attention and by gaining that attention, she act the way people think. ‘She had full rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red.’ She likes to dress up and wear a lot of make up, to attract the men. The men on the other hand do not flirt with her, as they are afraid of what Curly might do. This leads to the loneliness of many characters. Although the men think it is wrong of her to flaunt herself sexually and give everyone the ‘eye’, the men all visit a ########## for sexual gratification and momentary companionship. Those like George and Whit contradict themselves when they talk about Curley’s wife as being ‘jail-bait’. ‘She’s gonna make a mess. They’s gonna be a bad mess about her. She’s a jail-bait all set on a trigger,’ George senses danger coming his way, but he chooses to ignore it, as he needs the money. During the 1930s, women were seen as possessions of their husbands who were to stay at home. George’s view of women, seem to be very basic and biased, he sees them as instruments to relieve physical urges. All the ranch-hands one evening go off to ‘Susie’s place.’ This Brothel is a place were the men can enjoy the company of women and sexual pleasure. As the men have no need for a relationship it means they can still have fun without all the strings attached to love and friendship. ‘She never talks dirty, neither. Got five girls there.’ George does not express the need for any female companionship mainly because he is too busy keeping Lennie out of trouble. All these things link up to suggest clues behind the real reasons as to why the ranch workers are so lonely. They try to shy away from commitment and responsibility.
Violence.
The lives of the men in the novel is filled with unnecessary violence. The boss is a good example of this in the way he treats the men and permits fighting. Curley is another good example with all his completely irrational aggressiveness. Carlson is another character who seems to thrive on violence either when he is arguing with others or when he is erring them on. The guns’ easy availability causes inevitable trouble throughout the book. From the text it is simple to separate the more frustrated characters who resort to uncivilized behavior from those who are not quite so uptight. In a world of such mistrust it is not hard to see why violence is a constant issue. When George and Lennie first enter the bunkhouse they discover how bad the accommodation is. Suspecting his bed contains vermin George inspects it cautiously. As he does so Candy chatters on about the boss. We learn that he vents his anger on the black stable hand, provides the men with whisky and allows a fight between the stable buck and ‘Smitty,’ one of the Skinners. The boss could be worse: Candy insists he’s ‘a pretty nice fella’ and, after all, he keeps two of the cripples on payroll. The atmosphere of later violence has the potential to create trouble for Lennie. Finally friction builds up between Curley and Lennie. ‘Let the big guy talk.’ This harsh confrontation is caused by Lennie’s attempts to obey George’s instructions to say nothing. Curley’s presence is not good for Lennie and George’s safety. This is emphasized by Candy’s comments ‘he’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.’ Since Lennie is a giant man it seemed certain that a violent assault would come from Curley. As Candy explains, Curley is a small man and feels that he cannot loose this kind of situation. This seems very dangerous as Lennie ‘don’t know no rules’ when it come to fighting. It is typical that Curley should pick on Lennie for his display of violence. In picking on the large but apparently harmless man, Curley demonstrates his own cowardice. There is an irony in the fact that it is Lennie’s happy thoughts about the farm which leave a smile on his face, which is misinterpreted by Curley. Despite his size Lennie has two distinct disadvantages, he will not act unless told to do so by George and he is terrified by aggression. Because of this he does not make any attempt to defend himself. Curley is a vicious fighter and is out to inflict damage on Lennie. Animal imagery is used towards Lennie as he stands like a ‘bear’ with ‘paws’ covering his face but Curley is the ‘dirty little rat.’ Lennie’s strength and grip crushes Curley’s hand . This is not aggression but more of a reflex action, it is a defensive move. Carlson is not a cowboy, but does possess a handgun. There is a conversation about Carlson’s gun in the bunkhouse this lets George know where it is kept. The sensitive slim points out that when Candy’s dog is killed there will need to be a decent burial so a shovel would be needed. This compares the shooting of the dog with the shooting of Lennie later on. John Steinbeck emphasizes the long wait at this period in time in the novel by using sounds like ‘shuffle,’ ‘rippled,’ and ‘gnawing,’ which contrast the eventual ‘shot.’ After Lennie is accused of killing Curley’s wife the ranch workers all go searching for the criminal. The prospect of a manhunt and the opportunity to use his luger excites Carlson, who seems to want to solve all his problems with his gun. His keenness to use his luger on Lennie reminds us of his former enthusiasm to use it on Candy’s dog. The hunt for Lennie continues and the consequences for Lennie are that as George has just been saying that there ‘Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nor steal from ‘em.’ These things would have been the rewards they were hoping from their dream farm. There is heavy irony in Lennie’s urgings to George to ‘do it now.’ Earlier on in the novel Candy said that he ‘ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.’ This is probably the main reason as to why George decides that he should be the one to shoot Lennie, but he may also be protecting him from the treatment he would receive at Curley’s hands if he were to find him first.
Prejudice.
In Of Mice And Men there are several different levels of prejudice shown, all contributing to the failure of the American dream. The main types of prejudice shown in this novel are racial, sexual and age related. Racism is very prominent. There is much racial prejudice shown in Of Mice And Men towards Crooks the black crippled stable buck. Crooks is more permanent than the other ranch hands and has his own room off the stables with many more possessions than them. This room is made out to be a privilege and also because it means he is nearer to the horses but in fact it is really because the other ranch hands do not want him in the bunk house with them. As a result of this prejudice Crooks has become bitter and very lonely. When Lennie comes to pet the puppies, not even realizing that Crooks’ room is ‘out of bounds’, Crooks instantly becomes defensive "I ain’t wanted in the bunk room and you ain’t wanted in my room" but Lennie is childish and is completely without prejudice " Why ain’t you wanted" he asks. Crooks replies to this ,"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, all of you stink to me" This line showing that Crooks desperately wants to join in, be accepted, but because of his colour he can’t and so he feels the only way he can make himself feel better is to cut himself off further, it is a vicious circle. When Crooks realizes that Lennie means no harm he invites him to " Come on in and set a while" Lennie begins to talk about George and his dream, it makes Crooks remember his childhood which he looks on as a kind of paradise. "The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them and some of them were pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now". Crooks’ didn’t experience racism in his childhood, making his current situation even worse. Crooks is fascinated by the strength of the friendship of Lennie and George, especially how close they are. Crooks said, "Well, s'pose, jus' s'pose he don't come back. What'll you do then?" Crooks asks these questions because he does not have any friends, and wouldn’t know how losing them unexpectedly would feel. He was curious and envious, about the friendship of Lennie and George, noticing that Lennie is retarded, he takes advantage of this situation to "torture" him mentally, to make him feel better and ease the pain of having other reject him "Crooks’ face lighted with pleasure at his torture" he also does this to ease his jealousy towards the friendship Lennie has, but that he, Crooks, will probably never have. He wants the people to feel the way that he does, completely alone. Crooks goes on to talk about his loneliness " ‘A guy needs somebody-to be near him’ He whined:’ A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you’ he cried ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick’" Crooks is looking for sympathy, he is so incredibly lonely even to the point to saying that loneliness can make you ill. Curley’s wife is shown a lot of sexism over the course of the novel. Living on a ranch where the large majority of the people are male she is very lonely. George says "Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl" Perhaps to prove the fact she is insignificant, she is always referred to as ‘Curley’s wife’, never given a name. She experiences sexual prejudice in that none of the ranch hands will talk to her. This is partly because she can make up things about those she dislikes who will subsequently get ‘the can’ and also because she is a ‘looloo’ who flirts alots. "She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck they eye. I don’t know what the hell she wants" says Whit. The ranch hands don’t trust her or understand her. George says "Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her" An old lover told her that she "coulda went with the shows, not jus one neither" He promised her that he would write "Soon’s he got back to Hollywood" but he never did and so she married Curley. Because of this she’s upset and feels she’s been deprived by life. In fact she doesn’t even like Curley "He ain’t a nice fella". Because she has nothing to do but sit at home she goes out on the ranch under the reason of looking for Curley. Some of the sexism she experiences is her fault, she scares the ranch hands with her womanly actions but she isn’t really a tart, she just craves attention which she doesn’t get from Curley. Ignored by both the ranch workers and Curley she has ended up very lonely, the one thing she most wanted to escape. Throughout the novel there is a small protest for the weak. Steinbeck sees an opportunity to emphasise on how strong men had more authority over weaker or disabled onees. Candy, the old swamper is prejudiced against because of his age and his disability. Because of his hand he is unable to do a lot of the jobs that the other ranch hands do making him instantly an outsider. Also because he thinks that he is old he puts himself in a state of mind which handicaps him far more than his missing hand ever will. His life echoes that of his dog, he was once "the best damn sheep-dog I ever seen" but now is next to useless, Candy’s life has gone somewhat the same way. The novel shows the amount of predjudice at the time of the 1930s. At the time of the novel blacks in America had no rights, they were seen as nobodies. Because of this prejudice many of them, like Crooks "retired into the terrible protective dignity of the negro". Women also had very few rights. There are many different levels of prejudice shown in Of Mice And Men. Through these prejudices the characters such as Crooks and Curley’s wife have become lonely but they are in hopeless position which they can do nothing about.
Dreams.
Many ranch workers would share George and Lennie’s dream of a small farm. Such a dream would allow men such as George to be their own master, to make a decent living from their own hard work. This dream forms part of the much larger phenomenon known as the American dream. The American Dream has its roots from when American first became populated. Many of the characters in the novel have dreams, in the sense that they have hopes or ambitions. These dreams are often kept secret to begin with. George is displeased when he discovers that Lennie and Candy have told Crooks about their secret ‘dream farm.’ George always talks wistfully about his mental picture of the farm. He sits ‘entranced with his own picture.’ Georges dream like description slows down the pace of the novel and provides a period of almost calm before all of Lennie’s destruction. George’s life and Lennie’s would be more closely related to nature on his dream farm as he says, ‘when we put in a crop, why we’d be there to take the crop up’, so the cycle of nature would be complete. Since George and Lennie’s ambition in life is much like all those around him he believes it to be pretty impossible to come true. But suddenly George realizes that what had been until a certain point a distant dream was then a real possibility. ‘S’pose I went in with you guys.’ Candy’s involvement and contribution made the dream make more sense. It offers George and Lennie the prospect of companionship and self-living. The characters dream is a sharp contrast to that of their current surroundings. Crooks is rather scornful of the dream as Lennie explains it to him ‘you’re nuts’, he says. Crooks compares human hopes with religious belief and says that the search for ‘a little piece of land’ is like the search for heaven. His comments create tension as Candy, George’s and Lennie’s dream seems so close to them. Crooks thinks that the chances of them successfully achieving their dream farm are remote. Few have achieved it before. Despite Crooks negativity he seems drawn into the same dream of a better life and of companionship. During the discussion with the ranch workers his attitude changed from sheer disbelieve to almost excitement. Unlike most of the characters in contrast, Curley’s wife seems almost desperate to tell Lennie about her dreams. It is ironic that she confides in someone who appears to have no interest or little understanding of what she is saying. Curley’s wife reveals her own dreams of a better life. Her dream is parallel to that of Candy, Crooks and George. Curley’s wife seems to be starstuck to have taken all the flattering comments she received from the men she met. She finds her dream in the glittery world of show business, the cinema and glossy magazines. This is a sharp contrast to that of the three men. Her interest in the world of cinema and film stars suggest that her dress sense is there to make her stand out from all the other ‘ordinary’ girls. Eventually though in one way or another all the peoples dreams die out because of Lennie. Candy, George and Lennie’s dream is destroyed because of Curley’s wife. Lennie sinned and the heaven of the small farm became a dream again. George realizes that his own prospects are now no better than those other ranch workers, with their limited ambitions of cheap sex and gambling. Georges vision is an example of the second kind of unhappy vision. When he sees his future aimlessly drifting.’ I’ll take my fifty bucks an’ I’ll stay in some lousy cat house. Or I’ll set in some pool-room till ever’body goes home.’ Lennie’s dream is shattered. He starts to have visions after killing Curley’s wife. The appearance of a giant rabbit is to do with Lennie’s fear for the future. The rabbit is a symbol of a time of peace in quite and natural surroundings. Lennie tells himself that his dream has been destroyed by what he has done. Steinbeck again creates a sort of parallel not only between the shooting of Candy’s dog and of Lennie, but also between the emotions which motivate the killings. George ends up by killing Lennie, Lennie has killed Curley’s wife, and Carlson killed Candy’s dog. All killers are motivated by passion. Many of the workers have dreams of one kind or a another, and sometimes they share the same dream. Generally though the characters have one choices of an almost realistic dream. This is the dream that includes companionship, honesty and love or the ‘dream farm.’ Which represents the ambition and the possibility of escape from the workers loneliness and poverty. These factors eventually stimulated the violent deaths and therefore the abrupt ending of dreams.
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