preview

Analysis Of Steinbeck 's ' Of Mice And Men '

Good Essays

Loneliness Taking its Toll

“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long 's he’s with ya… a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (Steinbeck 72-73). During the Great Depression, it wasn’t uncommon to endure this type of loneliness. Candy, one of Steinbeck 's characters, is a migrant worker who was badly injured on a ranch and has been there ever since. Another character from Steinbeck’s novella is Lennie, Lennie is mentally slow and as a migrant worker in the 1930’s, he is isolated and discriminated against because no one understands his mental state. Curley’s wife, one of Steinbeck’s more outgoing characters, was also misunderstood by the men on the ranch. Married off to Curley, she was not …show more content…

In fact, after overhearing the plans of George and Lennie’s dream farm, Candy confides in George that he “... ain’t much good with on’y one hand” (59) and “he won’t have no place to go..”(61). Pleading to be included in their dream, Candy continued his attempts to convince George: “I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, ‘cause I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing” (59). 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 has 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 bunkhouse…” (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 the 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.

In chapter one, Lennie and George, two migrant workers who travel together

Get Access