Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else” (Steinbeck 60). Since Candy lost his dog, he felt like he had no one else. Nobody goes to comfort him when his dog got shot. “... I wisht somebody’d shoot me” (Steinbeck 60). When Candy lost his dog, he also felt that he had no reason to live. No one really likes him because he was old and useless. “I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off” (Steinbeck 59). Since Candy is not close to anyone else, he decides to give George his money. Candy wants to go with them to buy a small ranch. Candy is marginalized from others because he’s different.

They want to buy something that, in the end, will help their family strive and live better lives. As George and his best friend Lennie are traveling to a farm, George informs Lennie, “...we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres...” (Steinbeck 14). George dreams of getting a house and land for him and Lennie to live on, and his only hope is to have Lennie around to help him earn the money. He wants the farm so he can keep Lennie and himself safe from the cruel world.

Candy is a worker at the Ranch, he is very old and lost his hand in an accident working at the Ranch which lead to him becoming the cleaner. Candy overheards George and Lennie discussing their dream and joins them, as he can help cover the dream financially “I ain‘t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden“ Candy‘s dream is not to do as much with property but more to do with friendship and to have an easy life with minimal work.Candy found companionship with his dog on the ranch, Candy’s dog used to herd sheep on the ranch however it was now very old. Candy’s fellow workers on the ranch persuaded him to shoot the dog as he was no use on the ranch, ‘The old man squirmed uncomfortably “Well-Hell! I had him so long.

He don’t want to take care of him anymore because Lennie would do stuff that George asked him not too but one thing and that was hide in the bunches when he got in trouble but ever thing else Lennie would forget or would do something to get them in trouble or whatever then he did something bad and that was killed curls wife and he would ask for things that they don’t have. Well we aint got any George exploded whatever we aint got, that’s what you want(Steinbeck 11) George wanted to be by himself because Lennie would always mess things up and ruin things for

In chapter three, an older migrant worker called Candy explains to George how he lost his hand on the ranch and was compensated with a “swapin” job and 250 dollars. Because of Candy’s older age, readers can infer that he has outlived many of his friends and family members; consequently, Candy feels all alone and longs to find a “family” before he dies. Knowing that Candy doesn’t have any remaining family helps the audience understand why he struggled so much with Carlson’s proposal to end his dog's suffering: “I had him so long. Had him since was a pup… You wouldn’t think

George wanted a better line for himself and Lennie one day. Sooner or later, George starts to realize that with Lennie’s behavior issues and low IQ, that their dream was not meant to be. Therefore, George decided to end it. To live their dream, they would need to work a lot, and make a lot of money. With Lennie around, causing trouble, George could not keep a job long or make a lot of money.

had an old dog at the beginning on the novel .He had this dog for a

After shooting Lennie, George couldn’t stop thinking about it. He went with the other guys for a drink, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Lennie. George didn’t get much sleep that night, Lennie was hunting his dreams but not in a wrong way, he was now just a broken memory in George’s heart and brain. No one knew how close they were, that’s why it didn’t affect the others; however, Candy found out and said, “What are we going to do? You killed Lennie as they killed my dog. What about our ranch? Is our dream dead as your inseparable friend?” George just couln’t respond his questions, it was too painful for him. At night, George started seeings shadows that looked like Lennie.

In Of Mice and Men the character Candy is an old ranch worker. Candy has been working on otheres farms for years, while working on one of these farms he lost one of his hands in a farm accident. Candy was seen as a outcast to the other rach hands just like Lennie, Crooks and Curly's wife. The reasons they are seen as outcast is different and is what seperated them into different groups in American Society that they can relate to.

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 sees it as a way to make sure he survives and is able to continue on comfortable the rest of his life. Without George and Lennie to help him he will soon not have a place to live and no purpose. He even plans on using some of his life savings to help make this dream happen. Ultimately his American dream dies with Georges and

They don’t have no fun. ”(Steinbeck 41). Candy is one of the many characters that is affected by loneliness. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck he shows how loneliness can affect a person, longing for a friend, attachment, and anger. Candy is one of the loneliest characters in Of Mice and Men.

The 1930’s was a decade full of loneliness. The Great Depression had a major effect on the American population in many ways including but not limited to personal finances, jobs, health, security, and emotions. As a result, loneliness became rampant throughout America during this troublesome decade. Published and set during the 1930s, the famous novella Of Mice and Men portrays the theme of loneliness very well. In Steinbeck’s book, the theme of loneliness is best represented by the characters of Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Lennie.

He decided to help Lennie and George with their dream of owning a ranch since he had no one

Just like George and Lennie, Candy was also lonely and alone in the world, “... I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing...” it was a different matter when he