“Loneliness is the ultimate poverty."-Pauline Phillips. Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men agrees with her statement, the book clearly shows that loneliness and isolation is the worst feeling someone can have. Crooks says “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick”(73) Loneliness is having a lack of friendship/companionship. Throughout the story Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses the theme loneliness. The story takes place in the town of Soledad which means solitude in spanish, which foreshadows the problem of loneliness in the story. Loneliness is clearly evident in many of the characters in the book. Loneliness is mainly shown through three characters; Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife. Each one of them is lonely for different reasons, …show more content…
Candy says “A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ast no questions”(24) This quote reflects Candy’s life on the ranch, he is so lonely that he rarely has good interactions with people, he doesn’t have the chance too. Candy is described as old and weak. Candy has been on the ranch for a long time and is the only person on the ranch who seems to have struggles because of his old age. Candy is discriminated because of his age, but also because of his handicap. Candy is missing his right hand which obstructs him from doing many things the other ranchers can do. Candy’s only true companion is his dog. His dog is later shot in the book by Carlson. In a way the dog kind of symbolizes Candy. The dog is old and handicapped and nobody really wants him around, they say “he ain’t no good to himself”” the only person who wants and cares for the dog is Candy. Candy is like the dog because he is old, handicapped, and no one cares for him. When the dog dies, Candy’s companionless. The reason why Candy joins George and Lennie’s dream is because he wants a place where he can feel comfortable and safe. On the ranch he is heavily discriminated because of his age and missing hand, the guys won’t even hang out with him or go places with them. They always leave him behind. Joining the dream is his only way out of the misery at the
Candy’s dog is very precious to him, not only because he had been with him ever since he was a pup but also because he could see himself in the dogs place after a very short period of time. He was getting old and would be of no use soon. Just like the dog, everyone would be eager to get rid of him. He had lost his hand at the ranch. He is disabled, both, physically and mentally.
The character Candy could be considered lonely after the death of his dog. Before that he seems relatively happy and, in fact, is quite gregarious in chapter two when George and Lennie first enter the bunkhouse of the ranch. He goes on about the other characters and describes the Boss, Slim, Crooks, Curley and Curley's wife. He even gossips with George, telling the story about the glove on Curley's left hand which is full of vaseline so he can keep "that hand soft for his wife."It is not until chapter three that Candy's life turns lonely. Carlson, a laborer on the ranch, believes that Candy's dog is too old and decrepit. He suggests that Candy shoot it to put it out of its misery. Candy can't do it and, because Slim gives Carlson the approval, the man takes Candy's dog and kills it.
According to me, the definition of loneliness is a feeling that naturally occurs when there is no communication between you and someone else, or if you do not like to talk to anyone. This sometimes causes people to create rage (mentally, and physically). This can also sometimes cause death, for yourself or someone else. So in this book, what John Steinbeck is trying to say about loneliness is that, the people are lonely because of their physical features and this involves Candy, Curley’s Wife and Crooks. They all are lonely in their own ways, but have the same problem.
Candy?s disability separates him from society, an example of Curley being set aside is when everybody else goes to town he is left in the barn with Crooks, Lennie, and Curley?s wife. Candy?s only friendship was with his old, smelly dog. Candy?s dog was a symbol of himself (old, and useless). When Carlson kills Candy?s dog, he kills Candy on the inside as well. Curley?s wife had the most pathetic and depressing life.
In the movie, this part of the story takes place a couple of days after the dog has been shot. Candy overhears and quickly offers up his money to help with the dream. (DVD) In the book, the event happens on the same night as the shooting of the dog, when the emotions of the characters are still raw and on edge. The other men have left the bunkhouse and George and Lennie begin to talk about their future plans. In the film version, Candy is visible in the background, but in the book he is not mentioned as the other two men talk to each other. The reader, as well as George and Lennie forget Candy is in the room until ask if George knew of a place. The text says that he was excited and eager when he speaks (56). It describes how he sat up on the edge of his bunk. He had just lost his only friend, but now here was an opportunity to not be alone. Here is a chance for him not to be lonely. He is so desperate for that, that he is offering every penny he has in the world plus his future earnings to a couple of strangers. He knows this is his only chance. "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn 't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody 'd shoot me. But they won 't do nothing like that. I won 't have no place to go, and I
This aspect is reflected by use of the time period’s race standards, as revealed in the following quote. Crooks whined in sorrow, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody.” (Steinbeck 73). This quote suggests that Crooks’ exposure of discrimination has forced his isolation, preventing him from a healthy amount of human interaction and possibly driving mental illness. The indifference to women back then also donates to the effects of isolation and loneliness in the novel, as seen through Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife yells in exasperation, “Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (Steinbeck 87). This quote illustrates Curley’s wife’s frustration and anger of being shunned by the other people on the ranch, and the lack of her actual name, only being referred to as “Curley’s wife”, may also reveal her as being considered Curley’s property rather than spouse. In the novel, the characteristic of inevitability of age contributes to the effects of isolation and need for companionship. After Candy’s dog is shot, it’s revealed that Candy faces age discrimination. Candy comments in a monotone voice: “Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunkhouses they’ll put me on the county,” (Steinbeck 60). This example shows that Candy is aware of how useless he is in the eyes of the other men on the ranch due to his age, and will face adversity of being
Steinbeck connects Candy with his dog in order to suggest that humans have created a society where the weak cannot survive. Earlier in the book, Candy describes his dog as the “best damn sheep dog I ever seen” (Steinbeck 44). However, in lines 9 and 10, Candy reiterates that the other workers shot his dog because “he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else.” As soon as the dog outgrows its usefulness by becoming old and blind, the other tenants team up to ensure its death, suggesting how society joins together to dispose of those who are weak. Steinbeck then connects Ca...
As Candy’s dog is about to be shot, Candy looks for a new partnership with George and Lennie, he carries,“You know where's a place like that?(59)." Candy, who has no family, very few connections with the ranch workers, and a huge disability, looked to his dog to solve his extreme loneliness. When everything that he has is taken away from him, he is lost, so he immediately looks for a companionship with Lennie and George in order to cope with his loneliness. He is desperately alone and always needs to be attached to something, which makes him so eager to jump into Lennie and George’s dream. Steinbeck expresses Candy’s loneliness through situational irony, and it shows how badly Candy needs a companionship, at all times.
This is the piece of speech, when Candy is trying to persuade George to let him in on the ranch their going to get. The language Steinbeck uses here, makes Candy seem overly eager to get in with George and Lennie. Mainly because, he’s dog dies so now he doesn’t have anybody, and he feels he might get canned. So as soon as he hears the opportunity to break away from being lonely, he jumps at it. I feel extremely sorry for Candy because he has nobody to turn to. He really does try to find friendship in people, but sometimes tries to hard.
The central element of this novella is its symbolism. This novella has plenty of symbolical forms, such as people, creed, and some of the animals. Candy has several terms of symbolism, for example his disability is a symbol of the migrant workers who are just literally forgotten about, they are forgotten when they are no use to the owners. Candy’s dog is a symbol of a life only for advantage to others Lennie also for shadows this, he is belittled of his mind but enormously commented for his strength. Also he is compelled to lie about the fight he had with Curley, this is a symbol of typical male society in the, “Depression era”.
There was once a very old man, who had a hammer nose. The old man had spent his last fifty-something years of heavy drinking along with his drunken friends. For the last five years he hadn’t had a drink. Not even a drop of any liquor. But why not?
He is described as a tall, stoop- shouldered old man. He tends to normally wear blue jeans and carries a broom in his first scene, with his ‘bristly, white whiskers.’ Candy is the person who offers to help out with George and Lennie’s dream. He found likeliness in their dream when, one of the other ranch hands, Carlson, shot CandyÂ’s only companion his ‘bitch’ dog. Furthermore, with Candy’s dog being shot it shows us that he is infact very lonely , hid dog is his company and his equivalent of a friend, ‘I had im since he was a pup.’
Candy uses his frustration and blames Curley’s wife for everything: “You done it, di’nt you? I s’pose you’re glad. Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up. You wasn’t no good” (Steinbeck 95). At this particular moment, Candy loses all sense of security. He feels the need to blame Curley’s wife because his almost-reached dream vanishes. Candy knows if Lennie gets caught, their dreams of owning a ranch will never be reachable again. Candy takes out his frustration and devastation on Curley’s wife in order to make himself feel better. After acknowledging that Lennie is no longer safe and the dream is gone, Candy falls back into a state of depression. He cannot fulfill his dreams of working on George and Lennie’s ranch because there will be no such ranch. If there is no future ranch, Candy realizes that his current boss will fire him soon. After this realization, all hope for a better future for Candy is lost. Much like Candy’s wife, Candy has no control over this situation. There is no possible way of knowing who or when someone will die. He also has no control over his disabled arm. There is only so much one can do without a
The character Candy demonstrated his isolation by not having any relatives or good friendship in the workplace. He had his old dog that spent most of the time with and less interaction with his workmates due to the loss of his right arm. However, after Carlson shot Candy’s dog, Candy became really lonely since he spent the most of the time with his dog. He expressed his feeling to George and stated, “You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They say he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me”, (60). This also shows that although Candy had someone to talk to, it was not a human. He could not play cards with his dog or tell him how happy or upset he was. Also, Candy got really excited to
“George sets the tone for these confessions early in the novella when he reminds Lennie that the life of a ranch-hand is among the loneliest of lives”(Sparknotes,2017). This quote again points out george being alone in a crowd of people. Now I’m going to explain how Candy losing his dog was a crucial to the topic of being