How Does Steinbeck Present The Theme Of Isolation In Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck. The book is set in California, the birthplace of Steinbeck, which is the setting of most of his books. Of Mice and Men is about George and Lennie, two ranch workers, who travel together and look after each other. The men travel to a new ranch after Lennie, who is mentally disabled, gets himself into trouble. On the new ranch, it is seen as unusual that George and Lennie travel together because most of the ranch workers live alone. John Steinbeck shows in the novel the effects of isolation and companionship, conveying the different aspects in each character, to depict the overall theme that people need each other. George and Lennie are the main characters of the book and display the positive and negative aspects

Crooks is the only black man on the ranch and is isolated because of his skin color. He doesn’t have many friends on the ranch because he is forced to sleep in the barn instead of the bunkhouse. One day when Lennie comes into the barn to play with the puppies, he comes into Crooks’ room. Although Crooks’ acts like he doesn’t want Lennie to come in, he still invites him to sit down. He talks to Lennie about George and reveals his bitterness about being alone, “You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go back into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black” (Steinbeck 72). When Candy comes into the barn and talks to Lennie, Crooks acts like they are being naive if they actually think they can own a ranch. However, Crooks asks if he can be apart of their plan, “... If you… guys would want a hand to work for nothing- just to keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand” (Steinbeck 76). Throughout this chapter, we learn more about Crooks and once he takes his guard down, he reveals that he is lonely and just like everyone else he wants