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Loneliness in Of Mice and Men Pauline Phillips stated “Loneliness is the ultimate poverty.” Throughout Of Mice and Men, this is proven to be true. Poverty is usually defined as being with little money. The word poverty reminds many of homelessness. Although poverty is not always defined in a financial sense. John Steinbeck describes loneliness as being the worst poverty someone could be in. Loneliness is evident and a main theme, in the novella, opposed to penury. Loneliness is displayed in multiple characters in various ways. Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy are all examples of characters affected by the ultimate poverty. Of Mice and Men takes place during the Great Depression, however, the characters acknowledge their severe loneliness more than the existing financial crisis. Steinbeck supports this idea through the loneliness of Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy in his writing. Curley’s wife experiences the ultimate poverty substantially throughout the novella. She is thought to be the loneliest person on the ranch by many. She is unhappy and desires every bit of attention she can get her hands on. The ranch …show more content…
Crooks is discriminated against for being black. He is isolated from the other men in his own room. “‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me” (Steinbeck 68). All the ranch workers forget about Crooks because they have ignored him for so long. They do not give him a second thought as long as he stays out of their way. Slim is the only one who sees Crooks because he is the boss of the men. When Lennie first greets him he is bitter and wants nothing to do with him. Soon he becomes fond of the conversation and enjoys it. “Crooks’ face lightened with pleasure in his torture” ( Steinbeck 71). Crooks has all his necessities to live and lives in comfort compared to the other Americans during this
She needed people to talk to, like the others do. “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’ll tell ya a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick.” (Steinbeck, 72-73). Crooks has shown us that he truly needs someone however he can’t because he is different. This goes for Curley's wife as well. Those who are different are lonely because no one wants to get involved with them. When she is lonely, Curley's wife goes to talk to people but they never accept request. “I get lonely, you can talk to people but I can't talk to nobody but curly. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (Steinbeck, 87). Curley's wife explains that she is lonely. However, no one really notices it. She knows that she is claimed by someone she does not love. She only wants someone else to talk to him. Have her being viewed the way she was, was unlikely to happen. Being the woman on the ranch was awfully hard to live happy. She knew that they won't talk to her, so depression became a factor.
Curley’s wife could be considered an outcast in society. Women were not supposed to be adventurous, talkative, and mischievous; she was the opposite of what women were supposed to be in society. Every member on the ranch seen her as trouble and
Curley’s wife’s femininity may be seen as her greatest weakness or flaw to most, but she rapidly discovers that it is also her only weapon on the ranch and learns to use it to her advantage. Therefore, she puts up an alluring and sultry front in an attempt to receive attention, because she is aware that none of the men on the farm respect her because of her position as a woman. The men's blatant lack of respect for her belittles the miniscule amount of power she has acquired
Curley's wife from the beginning of the story is tremendously outcasted from society . Curley's wife is a lonely wife that lives in a far place. She can't go anywhere because the ranch is so far away. She has no other women to talk to because there are only the male ranch workers on the ranch that don't want to talk to her .Since there are no women on the ranch she tries to talk to the ranch workers, but the ranch workers think that she is an “tart” or a “flirt”. She is also separated by sexism which is abundant at this point in time.
A novel which explores the the theme of loneliness is 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. The characters George, Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife are used to show loneliness. In the novel the two main characters, George and Lennie, are starting a new job in California after being ordered out of their last job as a result of Lennie's childish behavior. They work as farm laborers and have always had a dream of they could own their own land. This dream they have is typically an aspiration that many people have but unfortunately never attain. Although, luckily enough they get offered money which by a character called Candy, and this sum of money boosts their chances of capturing their dream. However, the kindled hope they have soon evaporates, with tragic consequences.
An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say "I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hanged because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these discriminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm.
She is so irrelevant the author didn’t even give her a name in the story. Curley’s wife is considered a minority around the ranch because she’s a girl and is helpless to the guys and has no use on the ranch. Curley’s wife is oppressed by the guys due to her being feminine no one wanted to speak or associate with her.
He is forced to live alone in a barn, where he lives his life in
These men often tell her that she should stay home aand wait for Curley,‘’Maybe you better go along to your own house now. We don’t want no trouble’’ (Crooks, 77). The workers on the ranch believe that Curley’s spouse is a problem, as she would cause Curley to suspect that she’s cheating on him, so the men would avoid talking to her. This makes her question why everyone is shunning her driving her loneliness, ‘’Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am anyways’’ (Curley’s wife, 87). No matter how hard Curley’s wife tries to socialize with others’ on the ranch, they would push her away and feeding her
The first description of Curley’s Wife states that she gives multiple ranch workers “the eye” despite being “married two weeks.” From this we can instantly deduce that she is somewhat of a “tart” however if we evaluate further this could explain that she is lonely and not content with her new husband. The fact that she is giving other ranch workers “the eye” despite being married makes us feel no sympathy for her and instantly portrays her as endeavouring and potentially dangerous, although, on the other hand we can understand her restriction by Curley which makes us feel sympathy.
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.
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.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses stereotypes and discrimination to convey a message of how the characters feel. A lot of the stereotypes and clichés are just common beliefs of the times, but a few are situational. To quote a quite distinguished reader, "Characters are ‘trapped’- either by what others think of them, or by their situation." A lot of the character’s feelings about themselves and what others think of them will lead to loneliness.
Racial discrimination has been around for a long time, judging people for the color of their skin. Crooks is affected by this because he is black. Blacks in that time were thought as lesser than the white people. The racial discrimination affects Crooks' life in only negative ways. He is plagued by loneliness because of the color of his skin. His lack of company drives him crazy. Only when Lennie comes in to his room does he feel less lonely. He talked of his loneliness using a hypothetical scenario of George leaving Lennie. Crooks' responds to this discrimination by staying in his barn and being secluded. He doesn't want anyone to be in there but deep down he does so he can have some company. He isn't wanted in the bunk house or to play cards with the others because he is black. This effected the story by letting people walk all over him, letting them think they can do whatever they want, and ultimately making the people think they have a lot of power when really they do not.
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.