Of Mice and Men †Essay †Lonely Characters Discussion Essay

In the opening chapter of ‘Of Mice and Men’ John Steinbeck immediately introduces the theme of loneliness and the reality of men living very temporary lives with no real direction. Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life that not even the strongest can avoid. Throughout the story, readers discover many sources of loneliness and isolation. Candy is an old ranch worker who lost his hand a few years back while working. He is a lonely man who owns an old, smelly, disabled dog that can hardly walk. This really was his only companion. In the end his dog was shot. Candy’s life was heading in the isolation direction even further. The quote on page 59 â€Å"S’pose I went in with you guys. That’s three hundred and fifty bucks I’d put in†¦. How’d that be?† This was his effort to try and join in with George and Lennie’s dream ranch. Crooks is a black Negro Stable Buck who wears glasses and has a busted back. He is an extremely lonely man and probably the loneliest in the novel due to his complexion. He is treated by the others in a rude manner and is left sitting in his little room helpless with an uncomfortable bed which makes his back worse. The quote on page 67-68 â€Å"You got no right to come into my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me†. This is how he reacted to the treatment he was getting, but in the end he was quiet a nice guy to know. Curley’s Wife is a very lonely woman who wears red mules, has red fingernails, full rouged lips and hair rolled in clusters. She has no name throughout the entire book to reinforce how insignificant a person she is. Her life with her husband was nothing to do with loving each other because she didn’t even like Curley because he was not a nice bloke. The quote on page 87 â€Å"Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes† tells us that her ambition was to become an actor. In the end she ended up being murdered by Lennie after trying to become his friend. George and Lennie, although unhappy at times, are not lonely, because they share a very close bond with each other, and have traveled together ever since Lennie’s Aunt Clara died. The only thing that seems to keep them working for next to nothing is the thought of owning their own ranch someday. In the final chapter Lennie states triumphantly on page 103 â€Å"An’ I got you. We got each other, that’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us.† In the end George felt he had to shoot Lennie himself, so that he would die instantly, rather than suffer as Curley killed him slowly and painfully. Lennie’s murder was George’s final act of friendship. But it also ended their long friendship and now George would be lonely as he traveled around from job to job. In conclusion the loneliest people in this story are Crooks, Candy and Curley’s Wife. The friendship between George and Lennie was a strong bond all throughout the story, but it all ended when tragically George shot Lennie because he could no longer protect him any further.