Alienation and Loneliness in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Candy 's dog and Lennie share many characteristics by their disabilities. Both struggle through life and worry the people who care about them. While Lennie has a childish mind and is socially inept, needing George to constantly lecture him, the dog suffers from his own health and needs to be taken care of by Candy, unable to help on the ranch.

The tragedy in this ultimate display of brotherly love is that it comes too little too late. Instead of seeing the good he has in front of him all along, George doesn’t realize until the situation is out of his control just how lucky he was to have Lennie in his company. All he can really see in the future is his big dream of their own house with lots of farm land and animals to look after, living “off the fatta the lan’” with no worries or cares. This goal almost seems attainable when Candy mentions all the money he has saved up and George becomes blind-sided by the possibility of his dream coming true so much sooner than he had imagined. In this, he loses sight of what is really important to him, which is Lennie. He forgets how Lennie is and let’s go just long enough for Lennie to get himself into trouble for the very last time. This time, Lennie has actually killed a woman and done something George can’t fix for him and every hope he’s ever had goes out the window with the loss of his best friend

Understanding just how important security is to his own future, Candy hopes he can tempt George with his life’s savings and seal the deal when he mentions he had no living relatives to either help him or benefit from his death. Scared and embarrassed, Candy never comes straight out and admits how ageism has affected him, but he does express his feelings of fear and his desire to feel like he belongs when he comments to George, “They’ll can me purty soon. Just as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunkhouses…” (60). Without any family or friends, without a job or any money, Candy latches on to the idea of owning land together: “An’ it’d be our own, an’ nobody could can us” (58). Unfortunately, since Candy is much older than the other ranch workers, he often feels left out and lonely amongst a group of young, healthy men. Despite his insecurities, Candy still wants to contribute something to society to help provide him with a sense of purpose and to help make him feel like someone still needs him.

He is an old man who lost his best friend who was his dog and is one of the lonely people in the book who is not pleased by his life. Candy wants to join George and Lennie in their future life. ”Tell you what _s’pose i went in with you guys. ”(pg. 59)This quote comes out of Candy’s mouth, it also describes Candy’s eagerness to leave that place for good. ”You don’t know that we got our own ranch to go to, an’ our house. ”(pg. 79)This is another statement coming out of Candy’s mouth proudly. This man at this point of the book is very sure that they are getting a place to live in after they leave the ranch. The dream of Candy is already changing into a hope. “Then_it’s all off?”(pg. 95) says Candy when George tells him that he knew that Curley’s wife would get them in trouble, this is where Candy’s dream started to shatter. He already knows that him and George are not going to buy that place. This quote helps you predict that Candy’s dream did not come true like all the other characters. Other than the two characters and Candy, Curley’s wife also had her own

He had a happy and a great life. In addition, he had a son who he named Lennie Jr. in loving memory of his friend Lennie. George’s son had some resemblance regarding Lennie, they both loved to pet soft animals. Lennie Jr., loved to tend the rabbits and had lots of animals just like his deceased uncle, Lennie. George remembered Lennie everyday, he remembered their adventures together and the whole life together. Even though Candy died some years before, he got to seee their successful ranch. Both were proud of it and invited some of the guys from the ranch like Slim and Crooks who was not isolated

The reason why Candy is handicapped and an outcast is because he is old and has a missing hand. For example, when George and Lennie was telling Candy about buying their own land and he says, “I ain’t much good with on’y one hand. I lost my right hand here on this ranch ….”(58).Candy was explaining to them how he’s not that much help around the ranch because of his missing hand. Candy is handicapped because of his missing hand and because of that he doesn’t think his help would be needed at the ranch. In addition, when Candy was talking to Lennie and George he says, “..... a guy ona ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ast no question”(25).That tells the reader that Candy is lonely because he isolates his self.

That was his only companion, and even though it was old he still had love for it. Carson took Candy’s only friend away when he killed it. Later on , Candy overheard Lennie and George talking about their dream of getting a house and chimed in the conversation. Since it was just him by myself now he wanted to make their idea of buying a house possible and join them, Candy says “ S’pose I went in with you guys. Thas three hundred an’ fifty bucks and I’d put in. I ain’t much good but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be ?” (Steinback 59) In the book it’s obvious Candy didn’t approve of his dog getting killed at all , and was sad about it. Slim tries to make light of the situation and says, “Candy you can have any one of them pups you want… Candy did not answer” (Steinback 48) . After the problem with Lennie killing Curley’s wife he still tried to bring up him and George still getting that house with the little bit of hope left he had. Candy asks George, “ You an’ me can get that little place, can't we, George ?” (Steinbeck 100)

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” (Steinbeck 13). Loneliness affects people in different ways. Some people go out of their way to get attention from others, and others isolate themselves. In the story Of Mice and Men, some of the people living on the ranch are struggling with loneliness themselves. Loneliness affects characters in Of Mice and Men through Crooks isolating himself from others, Curley’s wife flirting with other men for attention, and Lennie worrying about George leaving him to take care of himself alone.

Lennie and Candy both love their companions, just in different ways. Lennie loves George because George is always there for Lennie, and he protects Lennie. He says, “because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why’’ (Steinbeck 14). Lennie is telling george this during their first night on their way to the ranch. Lennie is upset because the other ranch hands make fun of him because they do not know about his impairment. Also, George is motivating lennie to make him feel good about himself. This quote tells the reader about how much George and Lennie need each other and their love for each other. On the contrary, Candy loves his dog so much that he thought it would be inhumane to keep him alive while he is suffering. While Candy and Carlson are arguing about the dog’s death, Candy finally agrees and says, “ ‘Awright--take ‘im’ he did not look down at the dog at all” (Steinbeck 47). Right before Candy said this,

Age discrimination is demonstrated by Steinbeck when he uses social injustice. Candy is very fearful that he will get canned soon because of his age and has on hand so he asks George and Lennie if he can join their dream. (Steinbeck 60) Candy feels very isolated from the rest of the men because of his age and when he gets to be too old he will be thrown out. Gender inequality is another way Steinbeck uses social injustice to prove the need for companionship. Curley's wife pleads, "You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley." (Steinbeck 87) This demonstrates social injustice because we know now that Curley's wife just wants to talk to someone, but because of what everyone thinks of her she is forced into the realization of being lonely. Segregation is used by Steinbeck to demonstrate social injustice. When Candy is showing George around, he mentions the stable buck and how he is a different race, which indicates that he is separated from the others. (Steinbeck 20) This shows that Crooks is constantly segregated because of his race and he has to live alone where no one talks to him which allows him to become very isolated. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck uses social injustice to portray isolation and the need for

John Steinbeck feels poorly about women,makes then feel unwanted in his writing. Women have a high value in life but not in Steinbeck's eyes. Loneliness is a major part of Mice and Men.Curley's wife experiences being lonely and starts to do things to get attention

George and Lennie were talking about the farm and how it was going to be. Candy proposes “s’pose I went in with you guys… I ain't much good but I can cook and tend the chickens and how the garden some” (59). Candy does not want to spend the rest of his life on the ranch either. When he learns that he could get a farm with George and Lennie if he works through the end of the month his hopes grew big. Candy came to Crooks’ room where Crooks and Lennie were talking and says “tell ya what, Lennie. I been figuring out about them rabbits” (74). Candy spends his time thinking about what the best way to do things moving forwards is so that all the men can still live a successful life after they get the farm they are hoping for. Candy becomes George and Lennie’s friend because he hopes that this will get him closer to having a farm of his own.

The parallels between Lennie and George’s relationship and the relationship that their workmate, Candy had with his dog reaffirm the power dynamic between George and Lennie. In the novella, Candy must kill his dog because it is old and weak. Candy felt such extreme regret when it came time to kill his dog, that instead of doing

Candy is a cripple who can barely work and is no longer in his prime. His best friend is shot because according to Carlson “He ain’t no good to you,Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. (44)”Candy is the loneliest out of everyone in the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Candy is lonelier than crooks.

Candy’s friendly personality immediately attracts George and Lennie attention. In the beginning of the second chapter Candy expresses being friendly by sparking a conversation and introducing himself and showing George and Lennie around:” Tell you what, last guy had this bed was a blacksmith-hell of a nice fella and as clean as a guy as you want to meet” (Steinbeck 18). Later