Analysis - of Mice and Men

Happiness Is...Companionship

In John Steinbeck's, Of Mice and Men, companionship is portrayed as necessary for happiness. Steinbeck asserts through his vivid and realistic characters that to survive, people need others to talk to.

First, consider the book's lonely characters: Curley, the Tart, Candy, and Crooks.

These characters are clearly not happy. Curley is the boss's evil son. He is a small and cruel bully who picks on those smaller than himself. He also tries to intimidate anyone larger than himself, like Lennie. When Curley is enraged by Lennie's and badly timed smile, he explodes, saying, "Come on, ya big . Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show ya who's yella."

Curley's wife, better known as "the Tart," doesn't like her husband, and becomes overwhelmed by loneliness. This loneliness has led her to seek friendship from other men, but they reject her out of fear of Curley, leaving the Tart even lonelier. She says to Crooks, Candy and Lennie, "Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever' once in a while?"

One of the ranch hands, Candy, is a swamper with just one hand. His only companion is his very old and decrepit dog. When the dog is killed because it smells bad and makes other ranch hands unable to sleep, Candy has no choice but to latch on to other people. These people would be Lennie and George--and their dream to own a ranch would be the binding seal in his new relationships. Candy goes so far as to say that all the other ranch hands don't have a future.

Crooks, the negro stable buck with a back injury caused by a horse, philosophizes about companionship, saying, "A guy needs somebody--to be near him. 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. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick." He'd even consider working for nothing, as long as he could communicate with others. He entertains the idea of being part of George and Lennie's dream until the realities of "white world" hit him through the Tart.

George and Lennie are set apart from this pack of lonely people by virtue of traveling as a pair. Steinbeck talks about ranch hands