Of Mice and Men

One character in the novel that demonstrates the power of loneliness is candy. This man is stuck on the ranch and is no longer able to move from ranch to ranch de to the loss of his hand.   The only connection he has made in his life is with his dog. This dog has become his only friend and his companion in life. When the other men on the ranch determine the dog is not worth anything, they pressure candy to kill it. Candy struggles with explaining why the dog should not be killed. “Well, I had him since he was a pup. He doesn’t hurt no one…”(33). This says candy is not ready to lose this companion, yet he is unable to explain the connection he has with the dog. The fear of being lonely and losing a connection with something he loves causes him great discomfort with the decision.

      Lenny
      “The rabbits we’re gonna get, and I get to tend ‘em, cut grass an’ give ‘em water, an’ like that.”

      George
      “We’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof…”

      "All kin's a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house"

      Curley’s wife
      “’Nother time I met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers. Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.…I never got that letter,… I always thought my ol’ lady stole it.”