Why We Are Lonely

Intolerance is human nature; people who are different from or weaker than the norm

are victims of intolerance and become isolated and lonely. Those who are in the

norm are expected to be strong and not show their feelings. In Of Mice And Men, by

John Steinbeck, the social power group is the white, male workers on the farm.

They are younger men, still useful, reasonably intelligent, and average-sized. They

exclude people who do not fit their norm, such as Curley for being short, Lennie for

being retarded, Candy for being old, Crooks for being black, and Curley's wife for

being a woman. Between themselves, they expect strength, distance and

independence, and are uncomfortable with emotions. This intolerance and isolation

cause loneliness for all the characters in this novel.

This social power group oppresses and isolates Curley, Lennie and Candy because

they are different, even though they are white. Lennie is very strong and big but his

mind is like a child's, so the men don't respect him as an equal. For example,

George explains to Slim that he, "Used to play jokes on [Lennie] cause he was too

dumb to take care of 'imself"(p. 40). Lennie does not take part in the activities the

workers do in their spare time. Lennie does not go to town with the men. In Weed,

Lennie gets in trouble because the people don't understand his problem. They react

with anger instead of understanding. George explains to Slim, "Cause he ain't

mean....like what happened in Weed-"(p. 40). Candy is afraid that he will have

nowhere to go soon because he is old: "I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get

no jobs." (p. 60) Candy knows that society doesn't value or care about people who

can't work. Society ejects them because they are no longer useful. Carlson shows

this when he says about Candy's dog, " He ain't no good to you, Candy. An' he ain't

no good himself. Why'n't you shoot him, Candy? (p. 44). Candy knows he is like

his dog; an old man is almost useless. He knows how they will discard them he's no

longer useful: "They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they

can me here I wish't somebody shoot me." (p. 60) Curley feels excluded from

society because he is too short. He hates big men because big men automatically get

into the social power group. Candy comments to George that "Curley's like a lot of

little guys. He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with big guys.