Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Loneliness, isolation and exclusion impacted people in the 1930’s. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men follows George Milton and Lennie Small on a ranch owned by Curley’s father. Curley is married to a tart referred to as Curley’s wife. Although she breaks her husband’s rules, she is supposed to be isolated in the house. An older gentleman named Candy, losses his hand in an accident and sweeps the bunkhouse, at the ranch where George and Lennie works, alongside his old dog. Another character, Crooks is a stable buck who lives in a harness room of the barn. Because of his skin color, he does not often work closely with the other workers. Characters on the ranch affected by loneliness include Candy, Curley’s wife and Crooks.
Candy struggles with loneliness because of his dog is killed and the other workers exclude him. In the bunkhouse, Candy, Lennie and George converse in regards to buying a property, to live off of, from some old folks and Candy swinging the Lady selling the land by offering a will. As the conversation naturally moves on, Candy nervously decides to open up on his past. He brings up his injury four years ago that caused him to lose his hand and he is afraid that he will get caned soon. Next, he miserably starts …show more content…
Crooks says, “All the boys gone into town, huh?” Lennie replies, “ All but old Candy. He just sits in the bunkhouse sharpening his pencil and sharpening and figuring.”(60). Due to the exclusion of Candy, he is alone with no one to keep his company because everyone else is already somewhere else. Being by himself, the only thing he can do is to think so that is what he does. He is trying to keep the sadness, from being unaccompanied, away by figuring a plan to accomplish the dream of living off the fat of the land on his own property with Lennie and George. Although there are many people on the ranch, the lack of interaction with them makes Candy
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