John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men contains the haunting theme of isolation that captures the "abused" little man of 1920’s America. Throughout the novel, it is shown that loneliness and isolation has a greater affect on us than may seem. Steinbeck's characters experience different forms of isolation based on the specific prejudice contained within themselves. This theme is shown in Crooks and his isolation due to his race, Candy due to his age, and Curley's wife due to her quality as "jail bait." Candy, characterized as an old swamper, is victimized into isolation as a result of two main factors: his basic disability and his age. Throughout the book we find the farmhands out bucking the barley while Candy is left behind to sweep and clean the ranch. We see the reason for isolation due to his lack of a hand which he lost after getting it caught in a piece of machinery. Candy's age also adds to his isolation. Because Candy himself thinks that he is useless he puts himself in a state of mind that handicaps him more than his missing hand ever. He looks down on himself as an old worthless man that's wasting away his last few years. Candy's character shows us that sometimes its not just other people that isolate us, but that in some cases it is also ourselves.The most evident case of loneliness throughout the book is Curley's wife. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find attention. In response to her reputation for being a flirt none of the farmhands wanted to talk to her in fear of getting in trouble with Curley. When she talks with George she gives a perfect insight into the effect and end result of solitude; "A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick." In addition Curley's insecure feelings cause her neglect and forced her to seek attention anyway she could. Lastly, Crooks finds isolation in terms of th...
