Loneleiness in Of Mice and Men

The Workers at the Ranch

The workers at the ranch experience loneliness because of how far away the ranch is from any civilization. In the story we know it's far because of the journey that George and Lennie had to go on to get to the ranch from the town of Soledad. The word Soledad in Spanish actually means loneliness, so the choice of the name of the city that Steinbeck was intentional. Most of the workers at the ranch are lonely because they don't have anything to look forward to except the money they get for working on the ranch. They have no companions to come home to after a long day at work, they have no friends they can visit whenever they want, and they can't leave the ranch because they will have nowhere to go.

I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantn' to fight all the time.

George And Lennie

George and Lennie experience loneliness and isolation because of all the different times they have to leave to a different city to find work because Lennie keeps getting them in trouble. They can never seem to find a city where they can stay to work and make new friendships with people in the city. George and Lennie are always on the run because of Lennie always getting in trouble. Even though George always says he hates Lennie because they can never find a long time job or get a house to live in he still stays by his side and would never abandon him and let him be alone.

"Well, we ain't got any," George exploded. "Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cathouse all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of. An' I could do all that every damn month. Get a gallon of whisky, or set in a pool room and play cards or shoot pool." Lennie knelt and looked over the fire at the angry George. And Lennie's face was drawn in with terror. "An' whatta I got," George went on furiously. "I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time."

Curley's Wife

Curleys wife experienced loneliness throughout the story. She would always try to start conversations with everyone on the ranch. She would do this because Curley doesn't care for her like a husband should. Even though they are married Curleys wife says that she could be doing better things and she doesn't want to be married to Curley anymore. In the end you could say she got what she wanted when she was accidentally killed by Lennie. She no longer had to be married to Curley and she finally be away from him, but she would still be alone. Actually she didn't get what she wanted because she will be alone forever now.

"I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself." She said darkly, "Maybe I will yet." And then her words tumbled out in a passion of communication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away. "I lived right in Salinas," she said. "Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show come through, an' I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol' lady wouldn' let me. She says because I was on'y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I'd went, I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet."

Loneliness in THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS

Elisa

Elisa was alone throughout the story. Her being alone leads to the feeling of isolation because no one cares for her. She is also lonely because of the fact that she's a woman. While the men do business and work around the ranch, Elisa gardens her chrysanthemums and cleans around the house. However once the tinker showas up she finally feels that someone cares about her and she forgets all about being alone. After the tinker asks for her chrysanthemums she kindly gives them to him. When the tinker leaves her and her husband go on there date and she starts to cry. She saw the chrysanthemums in the middle of the road and she went back to being alone because she felt that no one cared about her.

"It would be a lonely life for a woman, ma'am, and a scary life, too."

Loneliness in tularecito

Tularecito experiences loneliness because of how people viewed him. No one saw him as normal even his name was based on how people viewed him. Tularecito meant Little Frog, and that was because of the way he looked. People saw him as a devil because of how he acted when someone touched the products he made from his hands. He would be left alone when he acted this way. Even his own teacher Miss Martin treated him differently than everyone else and had him stay overnight at the school house to draw animals with his talent on the chalkboard. Then after almost killing someone he was sent to an asylum to be locked away by himself forever.

"Only one thing could provoke amger in tularecito. If any person, man, woman or child, handled carelessly or broke one of the products of his hands, he became furious. His eyes shone and he attacked the desecrator murderously. On three occasions when this happened, Franklin Gomez tied his hands and feet, and left him alone until his ordinary good nature returned."

“Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible.” ~C.G. Jung