Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, a common theme of success through companionship is expressed the life of the ranch workers, the loneliness of the characters, and the dream of owning their own farm. The life of a ranch worker is shared multiple times throughout this book. George states, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” (Steinbeck, 1937, p. 13). Then he goes on about how it isn’t like then for Lennie and George, and how they have each others backs. (Steinbeck , 1937). This instantly hints at a theme about how companionship is better than loneliness. Later, we see that the ranch workers all have some kind of loneliness within them, Crooks being lonely because he has been segregated from the rest of the workers on account of his skin. …show more content…

We learn that Curley’s wife was given chances to make her dreams a reality however her mother excluded these choices from her and made them into a matter of her own. With the description of how Curley’s wife looks peaceful and ridden of the pain she was carrying can lead us to assume that being lonely can make someone crazy and drive them to do anything to appease it with companionship. Most importantly, Crook was in disbelief when he heard that Lennie and Candy were getting a farm of their own, saying “Hundreds of them. They come and’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it” (Steinbeck, 1937, p. 74). However, Candy expresses his passion about this dream and the need for them to get this farm. Stating how they aren’t like the others that come by because Candy, along with Lennie and George are working together to get this farm. After crooks hears this, he becomes intrigued and asks if he could join

Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Character Analysis
669 Words | 2 Pages
“Nobody’d listen to us” (81) exclaims Crooks when talking about being ignored. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates the characters Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy experiencing loneliness and isolation while living on the ranch. These characters attempt to socialize, succeeding and failing. Loneliness and isolation of the characters results in yelling, bullying, and even a broken neck.
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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
1117 Words | 3 Pages
In his novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930s. He illustrates how people are driven to find companionship. There were so many moments of loneliness and sadness throughout the novel, including many deaths. Following the deaths, they were very unexpected making the novel more intense and latch onto it more.
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Loneliness is the Biggest Problem Facing the Characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’
793 Words | 2 Pages
This makes her seek it from other people. By not talking to anyone and constantly worrying about what Curley will do, she has attained a sneakiness that does not please anyone on the ranch. Acting in flirtatious ways is the only way Curley's wife thinks she can deal with her loneliness. Even though the Great Depression had a massive affect on the characters in the book, loneliness had a bigger impact. Loneliness has tremendously affected the behaviour and thoughts of Crooks and Curley's wife.
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Who's to Blame? Of Mice and Men
834 Words | 2 Pages
Life for ranchers in the 1930’s was very lonely. They have no family, and they do not belong anywhere. They come to the ranch, earn their pay, go into town, waste their money, and start all over again at another ranch. They have nothing to look forward to. But George and Lennie are different; it is not like that for them because they have each other. It was George and Lennie’s dream to own a piece of land and a farm. That dream is long gone. In the story, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Curley caused the death of his wife and Lennie’s death; Curley also shattered George and Lennie’s dream.
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Three Lonely Outcasts
687 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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The Loneliness Of mice and Men
401 Words | 1 Pages
“’I get lonely’ she said ‘You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley, else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to nobody?’” (Page 87) This quote is said by Curley’s wife when all the men went to town, including her husband. It shows that she spends all her time alone, in her house as the men work in the fields. She is also not allowed to talk to anyone but her husband who spends all of this time in the fields, so she feels like she is living alone all her life. This forces her to talk to anybody she finds. This shows her case of loneliness, and Crooks almost has the same situation.
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Loneliness in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
2203 Words | 5 Pages
Mother Theresa once said, "Loneliness is a man's worst poverty." Without friends and companions, people begin to suffer from loneliness and solitude (Dusenbury 38). Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life and cannot be avoided, as shown prevalent through each of the characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Each and every character in this novel exhibits loneliness. Lennie was isolated for being mentally handicapped, Candy was isolated for being old and disabled, Crooks was for being black, Curley's wife for being a woman, and George for having to care for Lennie and being unable to socialize with others because of Lennie's consistency of getting into trouble from town to town.
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Loneliness in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1297 Words | 3 Pages
Throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men (by John Steinbeck), loneliness is the major underlying theme of the novel. You could almost say that the book has hormonal' up's and down's. Most of the characters are very lonely because they have no family. However, George and Lennie are the contradiction to this. George and Lennie's bond towards each other are so- strong that you can almost see it as you are reading the book. Candy the old crippled man wants to be part of George and Lennie's dream to own a farm and "live off the fatta the land". Curley and his dog are like the metaphor in the book for George and Lennie. Candy has to take care of his dog and George of Lennie. The other two characters in the novel that are apart of the overall theme of loneliness are crooks the crippled stable buck and Curley's wife the flirtatious city girl. Crook's fits in to the loneliness theme because he is black. During this time in history, there was very little racial empathy. So being black means that he is isolated from everyone else at the ranch. Speaking of isolation, curley's wife feels very isolated because her husband, Curley, doesn't trust her at all, however, because Curley is so strict and concerned about her flirting with other guys it almost fuels her desire to cause trouble.
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Friendship in Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"
774 Words | 2 Pages
Candy, Crook’s and Curley’s wife all were lonely and they dealt with it in unique way to make themselves feeling lonely. I think one of the most important lessons in the novel is friendship and having a social interaction with other human beings are very important and we all should be grateful, because it keeps us far way from loneliness. I remember a time when I was lonely I couldn’t stand it. When my mom and the family went out to the store for a while to go shopping. I felt I was going to explode, it didn’t feel like just a couple of minutes it felt like days. From the second they walked in the door I was greeting the, they thought I was eccentric. They kept “asking are you okay?” That was just about an hour I don’t want see if it was for a week.
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Loneliness In Of Mice And Men
591 Words | 2 Pages
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
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Compare And Contrast George And Lennie In Of Mice And Men
1246 Words | 3 Pages
“Of Mice and Men”, by John Steinbeck is a novel about the hardships of life and the importance of having other people around. The story is of two men trying to survive with one another in a world full of loneliness; their relationship is quite rare and strange. Lennie, a large bear, has a mental disability which causes him to be in a childlike state. George, a much smaller and more competent man takes care of both of them. Although they work for others on ranches, their dream is to get by on their own and live off the land. However, Lennie’s state causes conflict as they travel from job to job. Steinbeck uses clever ways in his novel to develop his theme and characters as the story progresses; both of these elements also help create a large
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of mice and men
753 Words | 2 Pages
Candy becomes the picture of total loneliness caused by age. He is rejected by all for being old and handicapped. His only company, his faithful, old, blind dog, is taken from him and killed; Candy fears that he will be treated the same way in the future and wants to join Lennie and George on the ranch. Crooks is the picture of total loneliness caused by prejudice. Because he is the only black man on the ranch, he is forced to live alone in a shed of the barn, and no one will have any interaction with him.
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Effects Of The Great Depression On Of Mice And Men
887 Words | 2 Pages
Many of the characters show that they want something better in life, but Curley's wife really shows the desperation for a life that’s better. Curley's wife states, "Coulda been in the movies, an' had nice clothes – all them nice clothes like they wear" (Steinbeck 89). This is only one of many quotes that she unveils through her character where it exemplifies how desperate she truly was for an opportunity that would have changed her life. Another is when a dream takes over your mind and body and it becomes a part of you, this is where George and Lennie shine. Throughout the whole book Lennie usually is the one to bring up the dream and he recites some part of the mantra typically involving the rabbits (Steinbeck 14). Even though Lennie was not all right in his head, it was something that actually stuck with him and it stuck with George as well. Of course not all dreams can excel, and sometimes it's important to realize a dream that only shows failure, which is what Crooks does. Crooks vocalizes, "'Well, jus' forget it', said Crooks" (Steinbeck 83). Although this is only a tidbit of the dialogue between Crooks and Candy, Crooks took back his offer as soon as Curley's wife has put him down and made him realize what his place was, and that in turn made him see a dream that was unachievable. With all these character examples, they show how at a time of need,
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Lennie's Hope
419 Words | 1 Pages
They are hopeful and excited when they talk about it but Crooks is only negative about it. He picks on Lennie for having the dream and makes him upset, being bitter. He said that he has “seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches...an’ every damn one of em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it.” (Steinbeck, 1937, p. 74). He also said that people like himself don’t get happiness or anything in life, showing his painful loss of hope. Another example of someone struggling with hope is Candy. He was told about the dream and immediately wanted to be apart of it, offering to help George and Lennie with it. He was so excited for it, always talking about it and making sure they can achieve the dream. When Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s Wife, however, he tries to remain hopeful. He asks George if they are still going to achieve the dream, asking if they can still try. George never answered, leaving Candy alone with Curley’s Wife’s body. Candy slowly processed what was going on, crying as he finally lost his
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Of Mice And Men Ranch Workers Essay
675 Words | 2 Pages
George says "Guys like us are the loneliest guys in the world". The word "loneliest" is hyperbole. Obviously the ranch workers aren't the loneliest people in the work as they have each other but the use of this hyperbole exaggerates and emphasises how lonely the men feel. This shows the reader how miserable the ranch workers feel as they feel like they feel like they haven't got anyone else to talk to. This presents the lives of the ranch workers as miserable and lonely. During this time unemployment was at an all time high and many companies went bankrupt. This all came after an economic boom in the 1920's and so people were hit hard by the drastic and sudden change. This would have made many of the ranch workers feel miserable as they would have been unlikely to find another job and so would have had to stay on the ranch whether they liked it or not - they had no where else to
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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Character Analysis