There are many characters attributed to loneliness in this well written book. An example is Curley’s wife, one of the few women even mentioned in the book. Candy is but another, an old man with no family. Of course there is Crooks, a lone black man that is often discriminated. But how are these characters people of loneliness? It all has to do with how they were treated, and put down by people better than them. In the following paragraphs, three characters will be talked about, Curley’s wife, Crooks, and of course, Candy
Curley’s wife is a character that demonstrates the qualities attributed to loneliness. Of course there is the fact that she was never allowed or able to do the things she wanted, being in the movies for example. There is, in fact, a quote, that
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Crooks is a black man who has no family, and because he is black, all the other men want nothing to do with him. Very rare is he accepted to be with the other men. An example is when they play horseshoes. Of the lines in the book, one line expresses his loneliness greatly: “‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make a difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with ya,” he cried, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.’” (Steinbeck 73). Crooks has been alone for most of his life. All we have that remotely relates him to anyone, is when he talks about his family’s ranch as a child. He is vocal to Lennie overall about his experience with loneliness, throughout pages seventy to seventy-three. As was shown, theses three characters, Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks, all share the qualities of loneliness. Curley’s wife, being a woman, is not allowed to do anything or speak to anyone she wishes. Candy is an old man who has no family and has no a to talk to. Then Crooks, a black man, treated terrible from the start due to the tone of his skin. Clearly, all of these people are treated poorly, and all have varying degrees of
All through the book Curley’s Wife is very “open” to everyone she meets. The reason for this can be interpreted by her and Curley’s “so-called” marriage. The relationship between Curley’s Wife and Curley seems to be somewhat unstable as he is always asking “Any you guys seen my wife?” (pg. ). This also shows how protective Curley seems to be as he is always checking up on where his wife is. Curley’s insecurity seems to cage in his wife from having any kind of a friendship with any other men. In turn, the wife gets so sick of being isolated like this and relieves her loneliness by conducting secret conversations with many other men on the ranch. As a result many of the ranch hands see her as a tramp but it can be viewed that all she really wants is a person to talk to.
Imagine being discriminated against because of your ethnicity; or being the only woman on a ranch, stuck in a loveless marriage, when all you really want is someone to talk to. What about having to kill that friend, and bury all chances of breaking free from the life of the average migrant worker? How would you feel? These scenarios in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men illustrate the need and desire for companionship in life. There's Crooks, the negro stable buck; Curley's wife, whose marriage to Curley hasn't exactly been lively; and George and Lennie, whose friendship is strong enough to get them to a better life and out of the negetive cycle that the average migrant worker became trapped in during the Great Depression.
According to me, the definition of loneliness is a feeling that naturally occurs when there is no communication between you and someone else, or if you do not like to talk to anyone. This sometimes causes people to create rage (mentally, and physically). This can also sometimes cause death, for yourself or someone else. So in this book, what John Steinbeck is trying to say about loneliness is that, the people are lonely because of their physical features and this involves Candy, Curley’s Wife and Crooks. They all are lonely in their own ways, but have the same problem.
The second lonely outcast is Curley?s wife. The other ranch hands stay away from her because she is a woman and because she is the wife of the boss? son. Also, even though her husband is very jealous, she is so lonely that she tries to get attention from the ranch hands, which makes Curley even angrier and more jealous. She is like the outcast of the outcasts. One night, when everyone else is away from the ranch, Lennie and Candy are in Crooks? room. Even though it is just the three ?. . . weak ones here? (Steinbeck,84), when Curley?s wife is lonely and wants to join them, they won?t let her: ?Maybe you better go along to your own house now.
Curley?s wife had the most pathetic and depressing life. Curley?s Wife spent her whole life trying to grab attention. She was always labeled and ignored by everyone on the ranch, an example of this is when George tells Lennie that she was trouble and to stay away from her. Curley?s wife was ignored and used from early on, when she was given false intentions on being a movie star.
“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. ‘I tell ya’ he cried. ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.” (Page 72-73) As you can see, Crooks also spends most of his time alone because he is black. He is not allowed to enter the bunk house nor go to town with the guys. He is not allowed to enter the bunk house, he is not allowed to go to town with the guys and nobody likes him because he is black. This shows that he has no friendship and his whole life is filled with loneliness. His case is different from Lennie’s.
This aspect is reflected by use of the time period’s race standards, as revealed in the following quote. Crooks whined in sorrow, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody.” (Steinbeck 73). This quote suggests that Crooks’ exposure of discrimination has forced his isolation, preventing him from a healthy amount of human interaction and possibly driving mental illness. The indifference to women back then also donates to the effects of isolation and loneliness in the novel, as seen through Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife yells in exasperation, “Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (Steinbeck 87). This quote illustrates Curley’s wife’s frustration and anger of being shunned by the other people on the ranch, and the lack of her actual name, only being referred to as “Curley’s wife”, may also reveal her as being considered Curley’s property rather than spouse. In the novel, the characteristic of inevitability of age contributes to the effects of isolation and need for companionship. After Candy’s dog is shot, it’s revealed that Candy faces age discrimination. Candy comments in a monotone voice: “Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunkhouses they’ll put me on the county,” (Steinbeck 60). This example shows that Candy is aware of how useless he is in the eyes of the other men on the ranch due to his age, and will face adversity of being
Curley’s wife suffers from loneliness also. Her only companion is very controlling. Curley makes sure his wife doesn’t talks to anyone. She is a victim of herself because she married a man that she hardly even knew. She married him though to have a companion. She killed herself and Lennie because of her need for companionship. She craves companionship because she is an attractive woman with need for interaction. Curley’s wife says,” Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? (Pg. 77)”.
Curley’s wife is a complex, main character in John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men”. She is introduced as an insignificant secondary character, but evidently posses the importance of causing the end of the novella. Despite the weight of her role, her value is hindered because of the culture towards women in the 1930s. Steinbeck uses imagery, foreshadowing, and metaphors to show loneliness analyzed through a Feminist Lens.
Curley’s wife is the only woman who is revealed to be living on the ranch. She has no one who wants to talk to her, including Curley, who controls her every move. Curley’s wife’s gender and marriage with Curley isolates her from the other people on the ranch, and she takes out her frustration from this loneliness on Crooks. Curley’s wife is depicted in a very feminine way with “full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made-up” to distinguish her from everyone else on the ranch. However, this appearance is incongruous with her true emotions and is an attempt to mask her loneliness. As the only woman on the ranch, she is regarded as separate as opposed to an equal to the men on the ranch. Throughout the novella she is defined as a possession of Curley’s which is why she is never actually referred to by her actual name but rather as “Curley’s wife”. Friendless, she is seen throughout the novella looking for people to talk to under the pretense of “looking for Curley”(31). However, as the men are afraid of getting in trouble with Curley, they all turn her away. She confesses to Lennie, “I get lonely… You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad’”(87). When Curley’s wife approaches Crooks after all the able men go to town, he turns her away saying that she “got no rights comin’ in a colored man’s room”(80). After years of being turned away by the working
...t she cannot talk to anyone “but Curley,” the reader can see that Curley’ Wife is an extremely lonely character, as she has no one she can talk to that she would enjoy having a conversation with. She also cannot talk to any of the ranch workers, as it is deemed unacceptable by society for a married woman to be conversing freely with men, and especially not flirting with them. This, together with her first hand complaint that she is “lonely” illustrates clearly to the reader how Curley’s Wife is a lonely person.
Not having any friends is one of the reasons why Crooks is lonely. The other workers on the ranch take place in fun activities, such as horseshoes and card games. Crooks never gets invited to play. This resentment is due solely to the color of his skin. The other characters all have someone to talk to. George and Lennie have each other, Candy had both his dogs. The other workers are friends with one another. Curley’s wife is also lonely, but still has Curley. The men sit in the bunk house, talk and have fun on occasion. Meanwhile Crooks is in his shed all alone. Crooks tries to explain to Lennie in
Life can be unfair sometimes. Most people get to have a good life going for them. Then there are the people in “OMAM”, who are ranchers that travel alone and never have somebody to talk to. These three characters are all lonely in their own way. The first one of these characters is Crooks.
In the novel, Of Mice and Men, many conflict causing characters made their presence known throughout the novel; one of these characters being the most efficient of them all, Curley’s wife. Although Lennie can be seen as the troublemaker in the novel, he has more of an innocent undertone to his character. On the other hand, it is seen throughout the novel that Curley’s wife is intentionally seeking to cause some kind of trouble in order for her to receive attention. In chapter two, the introduction of Curley’s wife, many of the men in the bunkhouse expressed how problematic Curley’s wife is, this is explicitly seen as Candy warns George and Lennie by saying, “Well--she got the eye,” meaning how she has an interest for other men, although she is already married (28).
John Steinbeck’s story, “Of Mice and Men” confirms how Curley’s wife is the loneliest character in the book. No one really knows her, she doesn’t have any friends there, and she is in a relationship that she does not want to be in. The relationship they are in is almost as if it was fake the whole time and they never really wanted each other so they’re actually lonely. Their love was never there and it was basically all like acting like they were together and happy being with each other when they really weren’t. Pretending like they actually had something made them feel as if they really had nobody and just had themselves because no one really knew what they were like behind closed doors where no one would understand them.