Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is… I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick (Steinbeck 72-73). The theme of loneliness is revealed here in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men. In the 1930’s during the Great Depression, loneliness was a very common feeling. Because stock markets crashed and crops died, desperate for work many men traveled as migrant workers, looking for work. One of Steinbeck’s characters, Candy, is an old man that started as a migrant worker, yet has been on the same ranch longer than many of the other workers, Candy is discriminated against because his increasing age makes him less valuable on the ranch. Crooks’ is another worker on the ranch who is discriminated …show more content…

Because Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch, she is treated differently by all the males. In this time period during the Great Depression, women were viewed more so as a possession than an actual human being: “You gotta husban’. You got no call foolin’ aroun’ with other guys, causin’ trouble”,(77). This conversation emphasizes that Curley’s wife isn’t referred to by her actual name, but is known as “Curley’s wife” because Curley is her husband and she’s basically owned by him. Curley’s wife chose to leave from living with her mom because she thought she “couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself”(88). However, even though she left and got married, she was treated the same way instead now, she is Curley’s property instead of her parents. Since Curley’s wife is female, she is unable to work with the males on the ranch, and it leaves her feeling abandoned by Curley: “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?”(77). In other words, while everybody else is working, Curley’s wife has nothing else to do but sit in a house and not have any communication with anybody. In the late 1930’s, women couldn’t work on ranches like these to make money, and even though it wasn’t necessary for her to try to work and make money since she is married to Curley, she had nothing to do while all the men were working. In result of Curley’s wife being married to Curley-the boss’s son- she is the only woman living on the ranch; being the only female gender, cause her to feel alone having no one to talk to: “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curly. Else he gets mad”(87). This dialogue emphasizes how Curley in some ways, owns his wife and whatever he says, goes. Curley does not allow her to talk to any other males besides him, and with no other women

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