Mice And Men Loneliness

Loneliness is debatably one of the most horrible feelings existent within society. It strikes every living soul at one point or another, as it takes an immensely deep emotional toll. A profound part of what contributes to the feeling of loneliness is isolation. During the great depression in the 1930’s many people suffered from imaginable loss including loneliness and separation from others. Of mice and men is a novel written by John Steinbeck, the novel follows a group of individuals during this time period of depression, and their daily adversities and interactions with others. Of Mice and Men is a novel, about closeness to others, but generally the story articulates that those outside of social norms suffer from isolation and loneliness.

Throughout the novel we see his connections to his dog, and how although it may have not had the most desirable traits still held incredible personal meaning to him. Without the dog he becomes very lonely. An example of this can be found when he says, “Well hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him. You wouldn’t think if you took a look at him now, but was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen” (62). Through these words we can see Candy really loves his dog. A part in the novel occurs where he is told by the others that due to its old age and other disabilities that he should put his dog down, and to stop its suffering. At first Candy is hesitant and holds out for a while. But under immense pressure his put the dog down. After this Candy falls into a deep depression and isolates himself. This is not the first example of Candy being very lonely and isolated. Candy is an old man who has only one hand from a working incident. So as an result Candy spent most of his life alone on the ranch. Through the quote where he says, “A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ask questions” (60). We can see that Candy is a very isolated man who never questions anybody or listens to them. The only continuous positive reaction he had was with his dog. So once that is taken away from the equation all that is left is a poor old man who suffers deeply from depression through isolation and the loss of his beloved