Theme Of Isolation In Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck's novella, is a story in which the dominating theme of isolation prevails. The story is peopled with figures of isolation like Candy, Curley's wife, and Crooks who are isolated because of their differences and physical disabilities. However, they combat their isolation by using their imagination. In addition, they are accepted by the other workers on the ranch, while Crooks faces loneliness because of his race, his mistrust in others, and his physical disability.
Candy is an old worker who has lost one of his hands in a farm accident and is reduced to the role of a swamper. He's spent the best years of his life working on someone else's ranch, only to lose his hand and have little money. However, he has a companion, …show more content…
She is the only prominent female character in the entire novella. In addition, Curley is very possessive of her and he prohibits her from socializing with the other men. Thus, she has no companions and is always seeking attention as well as putting great effort into her looks. Her over-the top appearance portrays her desperation to be noticed. Candy can at least interact with all the other men and is allowed in the bunkhouse as well as on the ranch. She is unable to make any connections with the men on the ranch, the only people she ever comes in contact with. Even if she tries to talk to them, they know that any sort of involvement with her would cause trouble with Curley. However, she escapes her reality by imagining to make it to the movies one day. Because she is so lonely, she wants to think of herself as having a future ahead of her, but of course she doesn't. Also, she tries to start a friendship with Lennie and tells him “ ‘Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?’ ” (77). Unfortunately, that relationship does not end well since Lennie kills her, but this allows her to escape from her lonely …show more content…
Of Mice and Men takes place during the era of racial discrimination. Even in California, Crooks is considered an “other” due to his race. This reflects his own separateness from the other ranch workers and leads to his isolation. All the white men live together in the bunkhouse, while Crooks lives alone in his room. He is not allowed on the ranch or in the bunkhouse, while Candy is allowed and Curley’s wife does it anyway to “look for Curley.” Not to mention that Candy and Curley's wife are both white. In addition, unlike most of the other workers, Crooks has been at the ranch for years. Unfortunately, his spinal injury which earned him his name made him unable to travel or to do the kind of physical work that the other workers did. He surrounds himself with books to escape from loneliness and creates a personal space that becomes another world to him, something that defines who he is outside of the world that he lives in. Most of the characters use their imagination to escape from reality, but Crooks is always surrounded in silence. Thus, he fears the outside world will invade his one safe place, his room. That is why when Lennie wanders into his room one night, it initially feels like a violation to Crooks. He tells Lennie, “ ‘A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya... a guy gets too lonely