"A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is,

long's he's with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick." A major theme in

Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men is loneliness. The characters Crooks, Candy, and

Curley's wife, each suffer from this although the severity of their seclusion varied.

The old swamper, Candy is victimized by isolation as a result of two main factors,

one being his disability and the other being his age. For example, throughout the book we

find the farmhands out bucking the barley while Candy is left behind to sweep and clean

the ranch. He lost his hand after getting it caught in a piece of machinery and as a result

he is forced to stay behind. This being one of the major factors that leads to his

loneliness. Furthermore, Candy's age adds to his feeling of uselessness. Because he

thinks that he is old he puts himself in a state of mind that handicaps him more than his

missing hand ever will. He looks down on himself as an old worthless man that's wasting

away his last few years. Not only is it the way that others think of him, but also the way

he thinks of himself that forces him to find solitude.

The most evident case of loneliness is Curley's wife. No matter how hard she tries

she can not fit in. For example, when she tries numerous times to talk to George and

Lenny she is either ignored or told to leave. Because of her reputation for being a flirt

none of the farmhands want to talk to her. It is the threat of getting in trouble with Curley

that causes many workers to avoid her. In addition, because of Curley's insecure feelings

he neglects her and forces her to seek attention anyway she can, even if it means flirting.

She is ignored by both the farmhands and her own husband and because of this she is

being forced into loneliness, the one thing she fights so hard against.

Crooks is a black man that experiences isolation in terms of racism. For example, he

is forced to live alone in the barn. Because the setting of this book takes place during the

1930's discrimination sadly still exists. The farmhands feel that since he is black he isn't

worthy of living with the rest of them. Furthermore, his separation from others causes his

severe loneliness. He spends his nights reading and his days alone in the barn working on

the horses. His distance from others will eventually causes his downfall. We find

discrimination being the major cause of this characters loneliness. He is treated as an

outcast and peon and is forced t find friendship in the only thing that he can, the books he

reads.

Loneliness is an inescapable fact of life that not even the strongest can avoid.

Throughout the story Of Mice and Men we discover the many sources of solitude,

primarily being discrimination and prejudice. Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife all suffer

from these facts which leads them to their loneliness. As for the consequences we find

that the severity of each characters loneliness varied and that the eventual effects were

directly related to the magnitude of their solitude.

Word Count: 555