The stock market crash in the 1930s led to homelessness and unemployment rates reaching an all time high in the United States. John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, shows the tone through loneliness and isolation, and using the characterization of Crooks and Candy to portray the effects of the Great Depression. Although the Great Depression happened over 80 years ago, COVID-19 has caused many to feel these effects again. Furthermore, Steinbeck uses Candy, an older man with a stump for one of his hands, to embody loneliness to not only relate to the reader through his attachment with his dog, but also to show the extreme darwinism during that time and how it affects people. In the novella, Candy realizes his place in line for natural selection …show more content…
An' he ain't no good to himself. Why'n't you shoot him, Candy”(Steinbeck 45). Carlson proceeds to shoot Candy’s dog in the back of the head. Steinbeck uses this harsh dialogue to help the reader understand the conditions of the 1930s and to show that the world operates on the most productive. Those such as Candy, who are old and disabled, cannot work as efficiently. When Candy loses his only true source of happiness, his dog, he realizes the same will most likely happen to him as he approaches senility. Steinbeck uses this moment of realization to spur Candy to seek companionship because of the fear of dying alone. After wrestling with his fate, he forms a bond with George and Lennie, the main characters. Lennie is intellectually disabled and rejected by most ranchers on the farm, except George and Candy. As said by Bert Cardullo, “Steinbeck has Candy, and no other character in the play, treats Lennie as his mental equal.” We can only infer that Steinbeck does this to emphasize Candy's loneliness through his desperate need for companionship. Because of his isolation during such a dark and desperate time period, Candy has a one way conversation with a feeble-minded man, who has no clue what he is …show more content…
When Steinbeck describes Crooks’ room away from the rest of the men, he mentions the word ‘alone’, “And scattered about the floor were a number of personal possessions; for, being alone, Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable buck and a cripple.(Steinbeck pg. 67)” The reason for his separation is not only the continued segregation in the 1930s, but also his crooked back that leaves him physically disabled. In Harvest Gypsies, Steinbeck shows that immigrants are hated, yet, they are some of the most productive by saying, “this hatred of the stranger occurs in the whole range of human history, from the most primitive village form to our own highly organized industrial farming.” So, Crooks loneliness stems from the isolation he receives from being hated as a African American man, and his inefficiency to work due to his back complications. As said by Agnieszka Lobodziec, “His isolation is not existential but racial. Crooks inability to participate socially with white people is emblematic of the pervasive racial segregation in America.(Black)” This is important to understand today because many ethnic groups and cultures stay away from each other because of the fear of racism. But, without the integration of cultures and groups, many will become isolated and