The Tragedy of Isolation Exposed in Of Mice and Men The Great Depression of the 1930s was a tumultuous time. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and means of unemployment. Entire families wandered the country, desperate for food and a place to rest, struggling to survive. There were also many men wandering America alone, looking for menial jobs to keep them alive another month. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck details the lives of many of these men and shows that the primary pursuit of so many was not money or things that money can buy. Rather, whether traveling from job to job or employed in some capacity, the vast majority of wandering workers were seeking human companionship and reassurance that they were not alone in providing for themselves, something that very few of they actually found it. It wasn't just the migrant workers who felt detached from the world, the boss's son, Curley, was also clearly desperate for real companionship. Curley's biggest obstacle was himself, as he simultaneously possessed a huge ego and very little self-esteem. As the son of the owner of a large ranch, Curley had considerable power over the men who worked there, and he chose to abuse that power rather than try to befriend those beneath him. Unable to realize that constantly arguing would do little to combat his loneliness, Curley pounced on anyone who looked at him strangely as an excuse to vent his frustration at being friendless and hated. He could not love his wife because that would have meant breaking down the barrier of pride he had built, and so he perpetuated the cycle of loneliness both in himself and in others. And what about Curley's wife? Unnamed, she embodies the wife displayed as a trophy by a status-conscious husband, be he a prominent politician, a millionaire, or the son of a ranch owner. It is tragic that two individuals so alone in the world can be brought together by fate and only succeed in reinforcing each other's isolation, and this is often the case. Curley has lived his life picking fights or discussing future ones, while his wife, desperate for meaningful attention, flirts with all the ranch hands. He desperately sought Lennie and the others in Crooks' room for conversation, hoping for company but dooming her from the start with her arrogance and unwillingness to admit that, to be truly happy, she had to bend a little.'..