The Great Depression

The life of a ranch worker in the Great Depression was one of physical labour, sadness and isolation. "Of Mice and Men" demonstrates that in the depression it was essential to find a companion or friend. If one couldn't find someone to be with they would end up alone, just like Crooks or Curley's wife who had no one to "give a damn about them". Although there were people who had that companionship, like Lennie and George, they only show how utterly lonely the other characters were and in the end Lennie and George's bond was destroyed. Therefore, in the novel all the characters, including those who had a companion, would end up being on their own.

Back in the 1930s racism was a way of life and being African American was tough. Crooks, a "black" stable boy at a ranch dominated by white men, wouldn't have had very much contact with his fellow workers. A disadvantage of being a "black" person in those times was that white people wouldn't have wanted to become friends with or even associate with Crooks. He might have found a friend in another African American person but there just weren't any living in the same area as Crooks. All this seclusion would have made him very lonely and then to come across Lennie and George, who were always talking about how they've "got each other", would have just deepened the already huge pit of loneliness that Crooks was feeling. Seeing the freedom of so many of the ranch workers made Crooks very bitter and he wished that he had just one friend to talk to. This is evident in the scene were Crooks is talking to Lennie and he says that he didn't care "who the guy is, long's he's with [me]...if a guy gets too lonely... he gets sick." All Crooks wanted in the whole world was a companion but when George killed Lennie, Crooks' dream of having some friends was crushed along with Lennie and George's dream to "live off the fatta the lan'" and Crooks was sent back to his life of solitude.

"I get lonely... I can't talk to nobody...How'd you like not to talk to anybody?" Her husband ignored her, the ranch hands avoided her and she had no one to talk to. Curley's wife was one of the most pitifully lonely characters portrayed in "Of Mice and Men". When she was young she had a dream of being "in the movies" but when that dream fell through and she married Curley, she resigned herself to a life of being disregarded as a "loo-loo" who would "poison" other men. These qualities may have been true but it was only part of her attempt to fill the void of loneliness that Curley had made, by seeking some attention from someone, anyone. Her effort at getting some attention is highlighted in the scene where she meets George and Lennie for the first time. "[Curley's wife] had full rouged lips... widely spaced