The life lesson that Crooks is trying to teach Lennie is that he should be thankful that he has somebody, unlike him and some of the other people at the farm. "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here and 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." (Steinbeck page 72). From this quote you can tell that Crooks is sad and lonely and just needs somebody to be near him. In the novella Of Mice and Men Steinbeck shows that loneliness can drive someone sick through the character Crooks.
Being old with only one full arm, losing your dog who was all you had, and being scared of the future can cause you to be lonely during the Great Depression, which is exactly what happened to the character Candy. Candy is old with a disability which causes him to be set apart from society. For example, when all of the other guys go out Candy is left behind in the barn because he's disabled and can't really do much; this causes Candy to feel left out and he starts to feel lonely. Because of Candy only having one full arm he's not very useful around the farm, which leads him to be scared of the future. "They'll can to purty soon. Jus' as soon as I can't swamp out no bunkhouses they'll put me on the county. Maybe if I give you guys my money, you'll let me hoe the garden even after I ain't no good at it." (Steinbeck page 60). Candy's scared that he'll get canned in the future, which cause him to want to go with George and Lennie when they go to their farm; he even offers to pay for most of it just so he can continue to work. Early on in the novella Of Mice and Men Candy loses something that is very special to him, his dog. Candy's dog was all he had, but because the dog was old, stinky, and useless, Carlson shot him.
