Loneliness and Isolation in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

Steinbeck's Personal and Literary Roots of Loneliness

John Steinbeck was a man who understood the plight of the common man and had a particular ability to portray it within a piece of literature. As a child, he "became an avid reader, especially of the Bible, Milton's Paradise Lost ... his favorite work was Malory's Morte d'Arthur" (French). His favorite books not only helped him gain a unique understanding of the written word, but also an understanding of one of their prominently shared literary themes: loneliness. The cries of an abandoned and forsaken Christ, the mourning of the isolated and exiled Lucifer, and the pain of a father unwelcomed by his own son were all influential pieces in Steinbeck's education about human emotion in written form.

His work would later isolate Steinbeck himself. His "scientific outlook created many problems for him as an artist and contributed significantly to a generally negative response to much of his work by literary critics. His use of science put him in a position of isolation — often the critics did not understand what he was doing" (Benson). To relate himself to people and therefore to his characters, Steinbeck joined a group of migrant farmers early in his career as they traveled from Oklahoma to California. "For two years Steinbeck lived and worked with the migrants, seeking to lend authenticity to his account and to deepen his understanding of their plight" (CAO). The loneliness of these workers, as representative of the human tragedy, would become a central theme in his first major success, Of Mice and Men.

Within this novel, the themes of loneliness and isolation are explored through and represented by the ranch and ranch workers, the friendship between George and Lennie, Curley's Wife, the African American stable hand Crooks, and the elderly Candy.

The Ranch Setting as Symbol of Isolation

Steinbeck sets the stage for the theme of loneliness first through the ranch's location. The nearby town is named Soledad, which is Spanish for "loneliness." The ranch itself is in an isolated place — George and Lennie have a long way to walk from the bus stop — and it seems far removed from the rest of the world, as the entirety of the novel's action takes place there. Outside locations are only spoken about, never shown. The migrant workers on these ranches are isolated creatures by nature, "nomadic and solitary" (TeachIt). "They work in these places as long as there is a specific task to be done — and when they are finished they collect their wages and move on in search of another ranch and another temporary job" (Attell).

Steinbeck reveals the "nomadic rootlessness of the itinerant laborer and the wage system" (Attell) through the characters in this novel. For example, after walking a long distance and finally arriving at the ranch, George is given the bunk of a man who had just quit without explanation, simply following a desire to move on rather than remain stationary. "Walking for miles, finding a bit of work, sleeping in a bunkhouse and disappearing one day — these are the exemplary images of the itinerant worker's life, the details with which Steinbeck strategically develops a precise setting and milieu for George and Lennie's story" (Attell).

The workers often speak of their loneliness and isolation; many of them are friendless. The men on the ranch are all passing through, not developing a home or seeking companionship — with the exception of Candy and Crooks, both of whom are forced to remain because of disabilities that further isolate them. None of the men maintain any kind of meaningful relationship on the ranch; instead, they go to town and pay for companionship to relieve a lonely craving for human connection. Friendship is not a familiar concept among the ranch hands: "The Boss is suspicious of George because he is unaccustomed to the idea of friendship among the men... 'I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy'" (TeachIt).

George and Lennie: Friendship That Cannot Prevent Loneliness

George and Lennie share the only significant friendship in the novel, though this friendship does not shield either of them from loneliness and isolation — from the other workers, or ultimately from each other.

George reveals in his conversations with other workers that he is aware of the dangers facing men who have no companions, and that he knows he is better off having a relationship with Lennie than being alone: "I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin' to fight all the time" (Steinbeck 55).

Lennie, too, is steadied by his relationship with George. "Lennie, despite being slow and easily confused, is sure of this friendship, answering Crooks's threat that George might abandon him, 'George wouldn't do nothing like that'" (TeachIt). Yet they remain a source of isolation for each other — their bond sets them apart from the other workers. "What differentiates this pair from the ordinary stumblebums then circulating the country in droves is the dream they share that George chants to Lennie's delight as they rest in a grove of willows: 'Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place.... With us it ain't like that. We got a future....' At this point Lennie breaks in to help finish the familiar chant: 'because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why'" (French).

However, the burden of caring for Lennie isolates George from the life he might otherwise have, leaving him lonesome for a carefreeness he cannot enjoy: "If I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble.... I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place... Get a gallon of whisky, or set in a pool-room and play cards or shoot pool.... An' whatta I got?... I got you!" (Steinbeck 14). Despite having Lennie to talk to, George is often portrayed as just as lonely as any other character. "We get many hints that they are alone, like the others... George seems to play with his cards the whole time he is in the bunkhouse. He does this because he has nothing else to do" (Dittmer).

Lennie's tragic nature also keeps him isolated and alone. "Lennie's drive to touch beauty kills the things he loves" (Scarseth). Lennie loves beautiful things, but repeatedly he causes their destruction, leaving himself with nothing to love. He resembles the tragic figures of mythology who are isolated because they cannot hold the objects of their desire — like King Midas, who could not touch the flesh of his lover without turning her to gold, or figures of Death personified, forever living without companionship.

Steinbeck also presents George and Lennie as isolated from one another through Darwinian evolutionary concepts: Lennie is not evolutionarily capable of surviving, and this keeps him separate. "George, the 'fittest' of the two, is compelled to shoot the strong but feeble-minded Lennie after the latter inadvertently kills... Lennie kills without malice — animals and people die simply because of his strength. Lennie himself must die simply because within the society of man he is an anomaly and weak" (CAO).

Conclusion

He is described as a "proud, aloof man" because he has no choice but to live that way. His isolation is not a personal failing but a condition imposed upon him by the racial prejudices of his era — making him, like Curley's Wife, Lennie, and George before him, another of Steinbeck's portraits of loneliness as an inescapable feature of the human condition in Depression-era America.