If you lived on the ranch with no one you really knew you would get lonely too. These three people would be the worst people to be friends with because of there actions and there behavior. The most isolated person in the book was"Crooks".I say this because he does not hangout with anyone unless he has to. Crooks distance himself from everyone on the ranch because of his skin color. Crooks does not associate with many people which causes him not to have many friends.
For instance, when Curley’s wife tries to talk to Lennie in the Barn while he avoids her, she says, “I get lonely, I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad”(42). Curley is careless with his wife since she is always solitary and had no one to talk with because of Curley’s jealousy. Curley is not a good husband since he constantly does not let his wife to speak with George or any other worker of the ranch because he gets upset and jealous. Also, when Curley’s wife is talking to Lennie, Candy, and Crooks in Crooks bunk she states “I think I know where they all went even Curley”(37).
A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick,", when talking about himself, Lennie, and George (Steinbeck 72-73). The alienation that was portrayed through the characters was only portrayed because each character had to undergo different circumstances. An example of this can be observed through learning about the different characters; Curley's wife was the only woman on the ranch, Crooks was the only black man on the ranch, and George was the only one who had to care for a mentally challenged man. Curley's wife was treated with injustice due to the fact that she was the only female on the ranch and because she had no one to converse with.
Whatta they think I am, anyways?” (Page 43). She’s not allowed to talk to anyone because everybody thinks she’s a tart. Everyone thought she was bad, and that’s how she was discriminated. Candy is discriminated against by his age. He has a very old dog, and the boys at the farm want to shoot it.
Minorities in this book include women, handicapped, black, mentally challenged and elderly. This quotation included the discrimination of the elderly and the weak. Candy's dog is old, smelly and sick. It has nothing more to offer and has out lived his purpose of living. This also shows how the Majority and the strong has a wrath over the weak.
this very discontent feeling would further add to the very isolation the Glaspell is trying to portray. How is anyone to feel connected when they much live with a foul personality? “He was a hard man” (Glaspell 181); “Like a raw wind that gets to the bone” (Glaspell 181). He gave his wife a dispirited sense of being. She probably felt smothered by his bleak nature and with the fact that the farmhouse was too isolated for anyone to want to visit, Mrs. Wright was left alone.
We see how selfish and self centered the narrator is as he has thoughts of, “this blind man” “coming to sleep in [his] house” and telling his wife “maybe [he] could take him bowling” (22). The narrator’s jealousy and lack of interest in Robert’s visit is blatantly apparent. While his wife goes to the depot to pick up Robert
Curley’s wife clearly feels neglected by her husband and she likes to create attention for herself as she feels she isn’t noticed. She is extremely lonely, and that is why she is constantly going in to the bunkhouse to allegedly ‘look for Curley’ but really she is crying out for the attention and affection that her loveless marriage lacks. “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while?” and “Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs – a nigger an a dum dum and a lousy ol’ sheep – an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.” This shows how desperate she is for contact with people. She is isolated because she is the only woman on the ranch, and because of this Curley is possessive over her. No characters in the novel care for Curley’s Wife (except for Lennie for a brief time) and very little attention is given to her- partly because they are intimidated by the potential wrath of Curley, son of the boss, if they step out of line concerning his wife.
Lennie is a social outcast because he is socially awkward. In his innocence and mental disability, he often gets into trouble, often violent trouble on account for not understanding his own strength. Candy is the aging ranch hand, fearful that he will be too old to work (in the eyes of others) and therefore he feels like a potential outcast (being fired) in the future. All three are treated as different, “other”, or unwanted in some way. Crooks is black, Candy is old, and Lennie is mentally challenged.
As a result he often can’t face reality and can’t react properly to situations because he isn’t used to proper human contact- except from George who treats him like a pet, and who lennie obeys. The men are afraid of Lennie because they know that if his great strength were ever to go uncontrolled, it could easily overwhelm any one of them. This constant rejection by others increases the depth of Lennie's loneliness and adds to the theme of loneliness running through the novel. Lennie and curley’s wife react to their lonliness and getting into trouble, this explains why many people do bad things and how it isn’t really their fault. This also suggests why society have to care for minorities or generally lonely people because otherwise bad things may happen.