The 1930s was during the Great Depression, and is the time
frame that Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is set in. Migrant workers
traveled all over the country in those days picking and working in the various farms and
orchards depending on what was being farmed at that time. So there was no concept of
"home", and I'd say this was the first form of alienation. Wherever they were at, it
was temporary, and you couldn't grow roots or make friends because you'd soon be moving
on.
Always being on the move meant either dragging your
family with you, which was difficult and expensive (so many families all worked together
in the fields) or never being able to meet someone and settle down and get married. So
you were isolated socially too, without a lot of hope in the near future of things
looking up for you.
Lastly, the men on such farms were
isolated from each other, whether through racial segregation, age differences or mutual
suspicions and defensiveness. You lived alone even with others, and Steinbeck
understood this very well when he wrote the novel.
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