Original artwork, not a still
Of Mice and Men • 1937
Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
George says it like a lesson he has learned by heart, and that is the point: he is describing a world that will grind both of them down, and refusing it by speaking it aloud. The line is the novel's definition of itinerant loneliness, the reason the friendship at its centre matters, and one of the most quoted passages in American classrooms. It is the grim half of the pair; the dream that follows is the sweet one.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Of Mice and MenShow the scene
Chapter 1 of Of Mice and Men, an evening in a clearing by the Salinas River, a few miles from Soledad, California. George Milton and Lennie Small have been dropped off short of the ranch where they are due to start work, and make camp for the night. Lennie begs George to tell him the story of their future again, "like you done before". George grudgingly recites it in a flat, practised voice, starting with how men who work ranches are the loneliest in the world, and then sets it against the two of them.
Sources (1)
- Of Mice and Men (scanned text, Internet Archive)Chapter 1, the riverbank campsite after supperReference checked
Context reviewed
