Of Mice and Men represents the isolation during the Great Depression.
In John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” each character embodies this solitary struggle, deeply affected by their isolation.
This loneliness theme defines the narrative and the characters it unfolds, shaping their actions and influencing their paths.
We delve into how their loneliness affects their interactions with the world around them by dissecting the lines of Steinbeck’s key characters – George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife.
Of Mice and Men Quotes With Page Numbers
Of Mice and Men Loneliness Quotes
“I should go away and leave you alone?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 1, Page 12
“George’s voice became deeper. He repeated his words rhythmically as though he had said them many times before. ‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 1, Pages 13, 14
“With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 1, Page 14
“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 1, Page 14
“Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, The Boss, Chapter 2, Page 22
“Ain’t many guys travel around together,” he mused. “I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Slim, Chapter 2, Page 35
“Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus’ works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain’t hardly ever a nice fella.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Slim, Chapter 3, Page 40
“I ain’t got no people. 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 wantin’ to fight all the time. . . ‘Course Lennie’s a… nuisance most of the time, but you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 3, Page 41
“I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Slim, Chapter 3, Page 45
“The old man squirmed uncomfortably. “Well – hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him.” He said proudly, “You wouldn’t think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Candy, Chapter 3, Page 45
“Candy looked a long time at Slim to try to find some reversal. And Slim gave him none. At last Candy said softly and hopelessly, “Awright – take ‘im.” He did not look down at the dog at all. He lay back on his bunk and crossed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Slim and Candy, Chapter 3, Pages 47, 48
“A shot sounded in the distance. The men looked quickly at the old man. Every head turned toward him.
For a moment he continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, The Narrator about Candy, Chapter 3, Page 49
“I ain’t much good with on’y one hand. I lost my hand right here on this ranch. That’s why they give me a job swampin’. An’ they give me two hundred an’ fifty dollars ’cause I los’ my hand An’ I got fifty more saved up right in the bank, right now. Tha’s three hunderd, and I got fifty more comin’ the end a the month. Tell you what-” He leaned forward eagerly. “S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hunderd an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Candy and George, Chapter 3, Page 59
“George half-closed his eyes. “I gotta think about that. We was always gonna do it by ourselves.”
Candy interrupted him, “I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, ’cause I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing. You guys got any money? Maybe we could do her right now?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Candy and George, Chapter 3, Page 59
“You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Candy, Chapter 3, Page 60
“Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.”
“Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked.
“‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks and Lennie, Chapter 4, Page 68
“I seen it over an’ over—a guy talkin’ to another guy and it don’t make no difference if he don’t hear or understand. The thing is, they’re talkin’, or they’re settin’ still not talkin’. It don’t make no difference, no difference. […] George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. It’s just bein’ with another guy. That’s all.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 71
Crooks said gently, “Maybe you can see now. You got George.Youknow he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ’cause you was black. How’d you like that? S’pose you had to sit out here an’ read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody -to be near him.” He whined, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya,” he cried, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.”
― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Pages 72, 73
“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 73
“Candy leaned against the wall beside the broken collar while he scratched his wrist stump. “I been here a long time,” he said. “An’ Crooks been here a long time. This’s the first time I ever been in his room.”
Crooks said darkly, “Guys don’t come into a colored man’s room very much.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks and Candy, Chapter 4, Page 75
“She regarded them amusedly. “Funny thing,” she said. “If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but mad” She dropped her fingers and put her hands on her hips.
“You’re all scared of each other, that’s what. Ever’ one of you’s scared the rest is goin’ to get something on you.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife, Chapter 4, Page 77
“Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house afla time?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife, Chapter 4, Page 77
“Awright,” she said contemptuously. “Awright, cover ‘im up if ya wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you’re so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus’ one, neither. An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers…” She was breathless with indignation. ” – Sat’iday night. Ever’body out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs – a n***** an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep – an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife to Crooks and Lennie, Chapter 4, Page 78
“She turned on him in scorn. “Listen, N*****,” she said. “You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?”
Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his bunk and drew into himself. She closed on him. “You know what I could do?”
Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed himself against the wall. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, you keep your place then, N*****. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife and Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 80
“Candy said, “That bitch didn’t ought to of said that to you.”
“It wasn’t nothing,” Crooks said dully. “You guys comin’ in an’ settin’ made me forget. What she says is true.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife and Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 81
“Crooks avoided the whole subject now. “Maybe you guys better go,” he said. “I ain’t sure I want you in here no more. A colored man got to have some rights even if he don’t like ’em.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 82
“She knelt in the hay beside him. “Listen,” she said “All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’ on’y about four o’clock. None of them guys is goin to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife to Lennie about Curley, Chapter 5, Page 87
“I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife to Lennie about Curley, Chapter 5, Page 87
“She went on with her story quickly, before she should be interrupted. “‘Nother time I met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers.Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.” She looked closely at Lennie to see whether she was impressing him. “I never got that letter,” she said. “I always thought my of lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters. I ast her if she stole it, too, an’ she says no. So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night.” She demanded,”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife to Lennie about Curley, Chapter 5, Page 88
“Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n to. I don’like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.” And because she had confided in him, she moved closer to Lennie and sat beside him.
“Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes-all them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an’ spoke in the radio, an’ it wouldn’ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. An’ all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural.” She looked up at Lennie, and she made a small grand gesture with her arm and hand to show that she could act. The fingers trailed after her leading wrist, and her little finger stuck out grandly from the rest.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife to Lennie about Curley, Chapter 5, Page 89
“Guys like us got nothing to look ahead to.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 6, Page 104
“No,” said George. “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’
I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, George Milton, Chapter 6, Page 104
“Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Carlson, Chapter 6, Page 107
Of Mice and Men Loneliness Theme Analysis
Loneliness is a primary focus in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Even though each character is uniquely isolated from others, they share the common burden of solitude:
- Lennie Small often expresses feelings of loneliness and abandonment, for example, when he says, “I should go away and leave you alone?” (Chapter 1, Page 12), demonstrating his fear of isolation and dependency on George for companionship.
- George Milton clearly describes the loneliness of ranch workers in the quote, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” (Chapter 1, Pages 13,14). He emphasizes this by adding, “They don’t belong no place.” George attempts to escape this cycle of loneliness and isolation by creating a dream of a shared future with Lennie.
- The sheer depth of loneliness endured by ranch workers is also voiced by Slim, who says, “Ain’t many guys travel around together. I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other” (Chapter 2, Page 35).
- Additionally, Candy faces loneliness in his old age and physical disability, leading him to attach great value to his dog, his only companion, and his subsequent despair when the dog is shot (Chapter 3, Page 49). Candy’s loneliness is so profound that he’s willing to buy into George and Lennie’s dream of having a place to have companionship (Chapter 3, Page 59).
- The story also offers insight into emotional isolation through characters like Crooks, the black stable hand, and Curley’s wife, who are cut off from the others due to racism and sexism.
- Finally, the theme is further highlighted in George’s ultimate decision to euthanize Lennie. This act leaves George as another isolated figure, further underscoring the pervasive sense of loneliness throughout the novel.
While set in a specific context of itinerant ranch workers, Steinbeck’s exploration serves as a broader commentary on the human condition and our universal need for community, connection, and companionship.
Each character’s loneliness drives their actions and is at the heart of their joys and sorrows, making it a central, unifying theme of the book.”
What quotes show Lennie is lonely?
“I should go away and leave you alone?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie Small, Chapter 1, Page 12
“I wisht George was here. I wisht George was here.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Lennie, Page 81
What are 3 quotes that show how Curley’s wife is lonely?
“Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house afla time?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife, Chapter 4, Page 77
“She knelt in the hay beside him. “Listen,” she said “All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’ on’y about four o’clock. None of them guys is goin to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife to Lennie about Curley, Chapter 5, Page 87
“I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife Curley, Chapter 5, Page 87
What quotes show crooks is lonely?
“Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.”
“Why ain’t you wanted?” Lennie asked.
“‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks and Lennie, Chapter 4, Page 68
Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody -to be near him.” He whined, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya,” he cried, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.”
― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Pages 72, 73
“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by.”
~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Crooks, Chapter 4, Page 73