How does Steinbeck develop the theme of loneliness in Chapter One?

In Chapter One, Steinbeck introduces the novel’s key themes. The (admittedly sometimes prickly) friendship between George and Lennie manifests and embodies the narrative’s central thematic consideration, relating to the nature and value of loyalty and affection. The work’s second, and related, theme of the nature and value of compassion also manifests here, in that George’s feelings towards Lennie are clearly grounded in compassion and protectiveness. There is also the narrative’s thematic contemplation of loneliness, manifest here for the first time in the opening lines of George’s story of the farm. That same story also initiates the narrative’s thematic interest in dreams and ambition with the first of many recountings of George and Lennie’s dream of an independent farm, an example of the work’s thematic contention that dreams can go a long way towards aiding survival in difficult situations.