Theme Of Isolation In Of Mice And Men

Friendship is the lock that closes the door to loneliness. Candy was aware of the lonely life of men on ranches and to avoid this solitude, he grew a reliance on the companionship of his mutt, and later George and Lennie. After a gruesome argument in the ranch, Candy 's mutt was taken to be shot and Candy lay on his bed terribly sad, "A shot sounded in the distance...For a moment he [Candy] continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent" (51). Carlson had initiated a conversation on Candy 's dog reeking in the ranch house and a final decision was made to shoot the dog and put its misery to an end.

Loneliness and isolation is an ongoing theme throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, experienced by several characters to different degrees. Some characters are more isolated and lonely than others, yet every character in the story goes through this theme during one point in the story. There are various reasons why each character is lonely or isolated. In general, all the ranch workers feel some sort of loneliness because they move alone from ranch to ranch and do not have real connections with others, Curley’s wife experiences this theme because she is the only woman on the ranch and nobody wants to interact with her because Curley is very protective and hostile of her. Thirdly, Candy struggles through being lonely and isolated after Carlson shot his dog and because Candy does not work with the others since he is a swamper.

Among those who represent loneliness are Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Curley. The reader is introduced to Crooks and his loneliness for the first time when Lennie stumbles into the barn to pet Slim’s newborn puppies. Crooks is the black stable buck who lives in the harness room. Crooks immediately gets mad at Lennie for walking into his room. After talking with Lennie for awhile, Crooks reveals that he is often lonely.

Most of the people on the ranch treated Crooks unfairly just because he was black. In the story Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie arrived late to work at the ranch. In a conversation with another ranch hand he told them the boss was upset that they were late and he gave the stable buck hell too. When George questioned why he would give the stable buck hell, the ranch hand replied “Sure. Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger.” George then says “Nigger, huh?” The ranch hand replies “Yeah.

Throughout the story “In the silence” by Peggy S. Curry the protagonist; Jimmy is on a rollercoaster of emotions. At the beginning of the story, Jimmy is depressed and homesick because of his interactions with Angus Duncan. Although as he would finger is brooch he would remember home, this made him happier. When Angus sent Jimmy into “the silence” he was scared, scared of all the dangers around him. After a few nights “in the silence” he had already lost two of his sheep, one was killed when trampled by a horse, and another was dropped and killed by a sheep, he was worried about what Angus’ reaction would be along with the sheep’s safety in jeopardy.

However, when Doug arrives at Ralph’s house he decides not to kill him because of the physical and mental state Ralph has deteriorated to. He’s already dead in Doug’s eyes. What people experience in childhood affects them into adulthood. Firstly, Doug randomly woke up on his 48th birthday and decided he had to kill Ralph. Doug lying next to his wife with children of his own sleeping in the other room woke up and decided that he “will arise and go now and kill Ralph Underhill” (Bradbury 1).

Halfway through Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses dialogue to demonstrate the theme of the loneliness and human companionship felt by the ranchers. When Lennie visits the bunkhouse to see his pups, he strikes up a conversation with Crooks and in the conversation he turns to his personal upbringing: “There wasn’t another colored family for miles around.” When Crooks was a child, he would play with the white kids. He didn’t feel isolated then. “...there ain’t a colored man on this ranch” Crooks now is physically divided. He is sequestered due to his race.

First, Crooks is an African American that is discriminated on the ranch and convinced that he will always be treated differently. Next, Lennie is a grown man that thinks and acts like a child as well as has a habit to want to stroke soft objects. Finally, Candy is an old man with one hand that feels as if he will not be needed on the ranch for much longer which leads to his gullibility. As one can see, Crooks, Lennie, and Candy are the outsiders of society in Of Mice and

Racism and Loneliness: Two Components for Bitterness Norman Cousins once said, “The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness.” Crooks, one character from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, battles with loneliness. He is forced to deal with racial segregation and live in a confined space isolated. Since Crooks is secluded he becomes an unpleasant human being and treats others poorly. Crooks’ method for coping with his loneliness, hurts him as a person instead of helping him. Throughout Crooks’ life, he is forced to deal with racial segregation ever since he was young.

Loneliness within Societies The 1930’s was a time of segregation. Many people were discriminated against because of their race, gender, disabilities and occupations. At this time, many people were migrant workers because they could not get jobs because of their race. In John Steinbeck’s fiction novel Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie were discriminated against. They were not able to have families or many friends because they were always moving from farm to farm.