The first symbol of isolation in the novel is the setting for the story, the town where the ranch is. It is called ‘Soledad’ meaning ‘Loneliness’ in Spanish. This is good imagery as the town is the place where all the ranch hands blow their pay on alcohol and women. It is very ironic how they go to ease their loneliness in a town called loneliness. This kind of symbolism with words to do with isolation is also used by Steinbeck when George, although the only one with a companion, continuously lays a ‘solitaire’ hand, to play alone. This emphasises that loneliness is something that cannot be escaped, shown by a man with a friend still isolating himself.
The other ways Steinbeck gets his message across are through types of segregation –
Crooks is a black man, who is lonely because the society is racist. He is so separated from the others because he is different: "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is, longs he with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick.” Crooks is rejected from every group of people and cannot socially interact with others, just like Lennie who can’t socially interact properly because of his mental-disability. Crooks hates the way he cant be with the other men: “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, you all stink to me!” Crooks loneliness is because he is rejected; others treat him unfairly because he is black. Crooks is enthralled by the strength of the friendship of Lennie and George, and how close they are. Crooks said to Lennie when the men had gone out to town, “Well, suppose, jus' suppose he don't come back. What'll you do then?” Crooks asked this question because he does not have any friends, and wouldn’t know how loosing them unexpectedly would feel. He is envious about their friendship because it makes him feeling even worse about being isolated knowing that there are friends while is stuck all alone. Crooks strives to achieve sympathy and understanding from others. This is when he ‘sucks up’ to the respected Crooks would work for nothing if it meant communicating with others. He even offers his services to Candy to work on their “dream ranch” to join in on the friendship and dream shared by Lennie and George, in order to leave behind him his lonely life.
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 see Curly and his wife together; they are always looking for each other. Curly's wife is lonely and, so she is continually trying to make friends with George and Lennie. She tries to convince Lennie to speak to her despite what George said: “You stay away from that bitch, she’s trouble.” Curly's wife remarked, "You can talk to me, don't listen to George". To emphasise a point, throughout the entire novel she is never given a name; she is merely a possession of Curly’s. This proves that no one ever stays long enough to get to know her or are always two scared to because Curly is the boss’s son and it would make him angry. Curly's wife flirts with the male workers of the ranch to try and get attention. The workers think she is a "tart" but she is only truly an insecure, lonely woman and this is shown when she tells Lennie "I never get to talk to anyone, or else, Curly gets mad”.
Candy, like Crooks is an outcast because his age and physical disability make him different from the rest of the men on the ranch, but he always tries to communicate with them as much as he can. Candy has one true friend in the world, his dog, which he cannot even talk to. The men in the ranch describe the dog as a "stinking hound" and an "old bastard". After they shoot him Candy says "I wish somebody would shoot me when I become useless". After Candy lost his dog, he felt much more lonely than he was before. The dog was something that Candy had owned and confided with nearly all his life. He has to look elsewhere for friendship. He hopes that these friends can be George and Lennie. Because of his age and disability, he has a feeling of uselessness. Candy thinks that nobody wants to be friends with him because of this. Eventually, he tries to find friendship by attempting to join the dream of George and Lennie: “I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some.” He tries to show that the he could be useful to persuade them to let him in.
The relationship between George and Lennie is very similar to that of Candy and his old dog. Both George and Candy and lonely, even though they have companionship; Candy cant talk to his dog, and George can’t have a really serious conversation with Lennie either. This is why they all need the dream of the place of their own. It is interesting that the Candy’s dog and Lennie have the same fate; both are shot in the back of the head unaware of what is going to happen.
