Would you risk your life for a friend? Would you break a promise to protect yourself? Could you bounce from job to job just to make a buck? In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck develops a sad and pessimistic view of mankind. He does this through characters that are lonely, helpless, and have unfulfilled dreams.

Every character in Of Mice and Men is lonely in his or her own way. Candy's been at the ranch for a long time, and the only thing that brought him joy was his dog. He said, "Yeah. I had 'im ever since he was a pup. God, he was a good sheep dog when he was younger,"(24) the dog was very old and did nothing but it was his best friend, and Carlson shot him. Curley worked everyday trying to improve his boxing, he got himself into trouble with the ranch...