Of Mice And Men Loneliness And Loneliness

Of Mice and Men starts off as a happy and optimistic story that soon turns drury and depressing; it has multiple cases of isolation and loneliness that forces characters into doing things they didn’t want to happen.
Before Loneliness gets introduced in the story, Chapter 1 has a happy atmosphere. Steinbeck goes into great detail about the scenery and emotions that are given off from this chapter. “On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees-willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool”(1). We are introduced to the two main characters, George and Lennie. He also gives a good description of what George and Lennie’s friendship is like. “Then he replaced his hat, pushed himself back from the river, drew up his knees and embraced them. Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees,

embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right”(4). In this chapter George and Lennie’s dream still seems attainable, but still is a work in progress.
The story starts to turn depressing when there is talk about shooting Candy’s dog. “Why’n’t you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him one of the pups to raise up?”(36). Candy and his dog have been companions for years. The dog is blind and deaf and Carlson makes sure he knows how stinky and useless this dog is. “That dog of Candy’s is so God damn old he can’t hardly walk. Stinks like hell, too. Ever’ time he comes into the bunkhouse I can smell him for two, three days”(36). Carlson decided that the dog needed to die so he shot him in the back of the head. Carlson is the one that first threw out the idea about shooting Candy’s dog, and ended up just taking matters into his own hands.
This story manages to become even more drury when we are introduced to the African American stable buck Carlson. The reader finds out how segregated Crooks actually is just because he is black. “‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me”(68). He is not invited to anything that the other ranch workers do. Crooks also tells Lennie that there is no way that him and George will ever own their dream ranch. He claims he has seen lots of workers with the same dream but none have ever succeeded. Crooks also lives in a separate shed attached to the side of the bunk house. It seems like the ranch workers will go to extreme measures to make sure Crooks stays away from them.
Ultimately, the character who has the best friendship, George, ends up being the most lonely when he is forced to shoot Lennie, his best friend.

“ Lennie was starting to become a threat to everyone on the ranch. Lennie just does not know his own strength, and also does not have the brains to know what he is doing. “He was so little, said Lennie. I was jus’ playin’ with him...an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me...an’ I made like I was gonna smack him...an’...an’ I done it. An’ then he was dead.”(87). He killed a puppy then he killed Lennie’s wife and both of them were on accident. The only choice Lennie had was to kill him. “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without

quivering.”(106).
Although Steinbeck started this story off by putting a good image in the reader’s head, it ended up being a very depressing book. Not only was there a character that was segregated, there were friendships, and a marriage that came to an end all because of death. This book is written in a way that will make the reader have mixed feelings about a lot of different intense situations that go on.