Loneliness. The snare of the snare. The concept of the state of solitaire plagues throughout the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The crisis of isolation can be seen throughout the book quite often. With George and Lennie being exceptions in this case because they are always together and support each other, the loneliness of many other ranch workers is overlooked. There are many characters in the novel who are victims of this epidemic because of differences they have from other characters. Similarly, in reality, America struggles with dealing with the number of individuals who have to endure in the face of forsakenness. Without anyone to communicate with, the loneliness epidemic will only continue to spread, which is shown throughout …show more content…
Candy is isolated from others because of how old he is, which causes a disability when working on the farm. Candy is considered much less useful than the others on the ranch and is therefore considered “insignificant.” Candy also shows loneliness through a quote on page 62, “They say he was no good to himself nor anyone else. When they can me here I wish somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do anything like that. I won't have no place to go, and I can't get any more jobs. I'll have thirty dollars more comin', time you guys are ready to quit." Candy relates to loneliness as he has to watch Carlson shoot his dog because of how old and useless the dog has become, similar to how Candy is seen by other characters. The death of Candy’s dog shows symbolism of the end of a companion and the mere beginning of his loneliness. The lack of people who supported Candy even though Carlson killed his dog represents the lack of empathy and kindness the other men on the farm felt for people in pain from loneliness. Candy needed a companion and it wasn’t acknowledged throughout the book by others because of how others didn’t want to associate themselves with