Mother Teresa once said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” This can relate to much of the book Of Mice and Men especially when it comes to Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife. There are plenty of examples in Of Mice and Men of loneliness. The key characters that express their loneliness in the novella were Crooks, because of his skin color, Lennie, because without George he would be lost. Lastly, Curley’s wife, because she is not treated the way she expects Curley to treat her.
The first character that displays loneliness in Of Mice and Men is Crooks, the stable buck. Crooks is predominantly lonely because he discriminated against his skin color, and is the only black man on the ranch. Crooks once said to Lennie, “A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who
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the guy is, long’s he’s with you”(Steinbeck 72). Right before this quote takes place in the novella, Crooks is antagonizing Lennie about George leaving him, then lennie becomes somewhat frustrated. When Lennie eases down, Crooks says, “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s going to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody”(Steinbeck 72). Crooks is explaining how lucky Lennie is to actually have someone, whereas he has no one and wished he did so he would not be as lonely. Crooks wanting to become a member of the “Dream Farm” is him trying to cope with his insecurity and loneliness. His loneliness is at such a peak he offers to work at the “Dream Farm” for nothing as long as long he can live his life and not being thrown out. When he brings up his offer, it is accepted by George and Lennie, and this is a result of him trying to cope with his loneliness. Unfortunately the book ends before we would know if there dream came true even after Lennie’s death. The second character that displays loneliness in Of Mice and Men is Lennie, the friendly giant.
Lennie is primarily lonely because without George being around he has no one to relate/talk to comfortably, also Lennie is not exactly lonely, he is just fearful of being lonely. Near the end of the book at the Salinas River, Lennie explains that he is afraid that George will end up leaving him because, he says, “I done another bad thing” (Steinbeck 103). Just before that when Lennie was talking to the big, imaginary rabbit, the rabbit kept repeating “He gonna leave ya, crazy bastard.” Replying, Lennie said “He ain’t, I tell ya he ain’t” (Steinbeck 102). Lennie is so terrified that George will leave him that he is almost having a mental breakdown. This is referring to loneliness because Lennie knows if George really does end up leaving him, Lennie will be lonely as ever without his best friend. Lennie tries to cope with his fearfulness of being lonely by thinking about bunnies and when he will tend for them at the “Dream Farm.” Or being as unintelligent as Lennie is, sometimes he forgets about loneliness
anyways. Lastly, the third character that displays loneliness in Of Mice and Men is Curley’s wife, the one who always gives “the eye.” Curley’s wife is lonely because no one on the ranch wants to talk her, including her husband, Curley. One example of her displaying loneliness is in chapter 5 when she says to Lennie “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely” (Steinbeck 86). This is a perfect example of her being lonely, all she was trying to do was be friendly, but in turn she gets rejected. To try to help with her loneliness, she tries to engage the men’s attention from the ranch, but all that does is push them further away. In conclusion, the characters that expressed their loneliness the most in Of Mice and Men were Crooks, because of skin color, Lennie, because of his fearfulness of being lonely, and Curley’s wife because of her sexuality. All three characters experienced loneliness, but all in their own way. It was up to Crooks, Lennie, and Curley’s wife what they would do to make the best of their loneliness. I am sure, if these characters knew who Mother Teresa was, they would relate to her very much.
Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is a book that can be analyzed and broken down into a vast majority of themes. One of the predominant themes found in this book is loneliness. Many characters in this book are affected by loneliness and they all demonstrate it in one way or another throughout the book. Examples of these characters are Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and Candy.
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.
In conclusion, all of these characters from “Of Mice and Men” are lonely in their own ways. Candy is old and he lost his only friend, his dog. Crooks is segregated from the society because he is black and not allowed to be with the whites. Also last but not least, Curley’s wife is lonely because she is a woman and she was born with that. In our society, right now, women have a lot of rights, from getting jobs to voting.
The story ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in a period of time known as the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a time where the stock market crashed, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless or striving exceptionally hard to keep their roof from falling in. The characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’ face many dilemmas, for instance Curley’s wife doesn’t get much attention from her husband and seeks it out from the other ranch members and Crooks can’t live a day without being singled out because of his race/colour. Both these problems relate to what I believe is the biggest problem in this book, loneliness. Loneliness has made Crook a very bitter and isolated individual.
Crooks expressed feelings of loneliness through out Of Mice and Men. Crooks? loneliness is caused because he is black, at the time the story took place there was racism. Since Crooks is black he wasn?t able to socialize with the white men. When Steinbeck describes all of Crooks? possessions, it shows that Crooks has been at the ranch a long time and that his possessions are all the he cares about. In Crooks? room, Lennie comes to talk to him. Crooks is cautious at first, this was from the years of racism that Crooks endured, he learned not to associate with white folk.
In the touching and gripping tale of John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he explains many themes throughout the books. One of the major themes is loneliness, which is shown throughout many different characters, for example, Curley’s wife, the stable buck (Crooks), and Lennie.
One main theme in Of Mice And Men is loneliness. George and Lennie have have just sat down to eat their dinner, when Lennie asks George to talk about their life in the future. George complies, and also describes their current situation. Steinbeck writes, “ Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They don't got no family. They don't belong no place.” (Steinbeck 13). George is speaking of the life of people in the 1930’s. Loneliness is a common trait amongst people, especially migrant workers. They have no family to travel with, and no friends. The only true friends George and Lennie have are each other. Crooks is another
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.
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.
John Steinbeck strongly suggest that those who suffer from pervasive loneliness are suffering because of their intellectual and social circumstances in the novel Of Mice and Men. As George and Lennie arrive at the ranch, they realize that there are three different types of people who are pervasively lonely. A black ranch hand named Crooks is socially unacceptable because of the color of his skin. Crooks stays by himself in the barn house and has taken up the hobby of reading books and collecting different possessions. Even though Crooks is isolated from society, he is able to remain a “proud, aloof man”(Steinbeck 67). Readers realize that not only does society exclude him, but that Crooks isolates himself from society. Another example of a
Loneliness is the central theme in the novel Of Mice and Men. Many of the characters show signs of being lonely, some more than others. Loneliness haunts Crooks deep inside. Crooks accepts things the way they are though. Crooks does not talk to the other men and they do not talk to him. This causes the greatest amount of loneliness in Crooks out of all the characters. Rejection can cause most people to become crazy, as it
Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men Conveys loneliness throughout the story by the events like loss of hope, loved ones, and past events. This reason is explained by the lives of these three characters, Lennie, by him being alone in the barn, Curley’s dislike for him, and him killing Curley’s wife. Candy, by his dead dog, insertion of George and Lennie’s dream and the death of Curley’s wife, and Curley’s wife by messing with the men, unable to be an actress, and her own death.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck looks at the theme of loneliness as it affects many characters on the ranch. Crooks, Curley's wife, and Candy are the most excluded characters on the ranch, because they all have dreams that they will not be able to live out and they all are at loss when it came to companionship. Crooks is lonely because he is the only black man on the ranch. Since this book is set during the Depression, Jim Crow laws are still in effect, whites and blacks had separate facilities for socializing and living. Crooks comments that he can't live in the bunkhouse, and cant even play cards in there.
Mario Diaz. 1/4/17 The Of Mice and Men theme in the story was loneliness To start with Crooks is a lonely character in the novel Of Mice and Men. Crooks is lonely because he can’t hang with the guys because of his skin color and just stays in his room with barn animals.
Mother Teresa has once said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” Loneliness is sadness because one has no friends or company or the quality of being unfrequented and remote. This quote relates to the theme of loneliness as portrayed by the characters in Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men. Although some view George and Lennie as victims of loneliness, Steinbeck suggests that they are Crooks and Curley’s wife because they both suffer from isolation.