Katherine Aragon
Mrs. Donato-Jennings
Ninth Grade
6 November 2015 Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck brought up this theme of loneliness in many characters in the book. Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Candy are three characters that are part of this theme. In the beginning of the novella George said “ Life working as ranch hands is on the loneliness lives to live, for these people to find friendship is impossible.” Crooks’ loneliness is cause because he is black, at the time the story was taken place there was racism. Since Crooks was black, He wasn't able to socialize with the white men. All Crooks care about is his possessions. When Lennie came in his room, he was cautious because he has not learned how to associate with a white person.“S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody-to
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Curley’s wife spends her life trying to grab attention. She was always labeled and being ignored by others on the ranch. Curley’s wife was used when she was given false intentions about being a movie star. Curley’s wife married Curley to get away from her mother. She is stuck on the ranch with no hopes,desires, or people to talk to. “I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”(Curley’s wife,86)Curley’s wife also says “I get lonely, 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 anybody?”(Curley’s wife,87) These two quotes explains that Curley’s wife is not happy about the marriage. She doesn't get to talk to anyone. I don't think she can't talk to anyone because she is very flirtatious. She could cause trouble between the
Loneliness is one of many central themes in John Steinbeck’s classic novella, Of Mice and Men. Throughout the story many characters sought after the company and attention of others. Each character has a certain barrier that keeps them isolated from the outside world. Three characters who portray this loneliness throughout the novella are Crooks, Curly’s wife, and Candy. Each having a different wall between them and society.
Loneliness is one of the primary themes in Of Mice and Men. Throughout the novel, John Steinbeck shows the enormous effect that loneliness has on the characters. Steinbeck most clearly illustrates this theme through Crooks, Candy, and Curley 's wife. Ranch hands are ideal types of people to portray as being lonely, because their constant travel leaves them without someone to talk to or share things with. Steinbeck also shows how important it is for every human being to have a companion. Companionship is necessary in order for someone to live an enjoyable life. Although loneliness affects each one of the characters in Of Mice and Men differently, they all experience negative feelings from their lack of
My other point is that Lennie came to crooks to talk but Crooks didn’t want him there. On page 68 is when Lennie at firsts enters his room and gets scolded. “Crooks said sharply, “You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody get any right in here but me.”
Most of the men wouldn’t give an answer, and some would. Either way, they were most irritated to talk to her. They discriminated against her and didn’t like the fact that she snooped around the men. Because she was a woman. The men thought Curley’s wife was very manipulative.
She manages to be effectively silenced by sexism throughout the book and is doomed to have a bad reputation forever from simple speculation. Throughout the story, the men on the ranch would say terrible things about Curley’s wife and ignore her when in groups: “If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk.” (Steinbeck 77). When Curley’s Wife tries to gain the attention of any of the men, she fails unless they are alone.
Curley’s wife really wants to have other types of social communication and thinks that her husband is very annoying at some moments. Equally important, when she is about to leave back to the boss’s house, she exclaims to Lennie, “ I’m glad you bust up Curley a little bit. He got it comin’ to him. Sometimes I’d like to bust him myself” (81). She wants her husband to accompany her more and also that she understand why Lennie pauperizes her husband’s hand.
Curley is very possessive of her, as if she is something that belongs to him but that everyone else desires. Curley wants the men on the ranch to know that he has something valuable that they aren’t allowed to have. Because Curley’s wife is so lonely, she is always seeking attention and putting a lot of effort into her appearance. Steinbeck writes, “She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages.” (31) Her over the top looks portrays her desperation to be noticed. Curley also restricts her from from socializing with the other ranch men, which makes her have no friends. She is unable to make any connections with the men on the ranch because everyone knows that if they talk to her, it will end up causing trouble with Curley, something every rancher is desperate to avoid. Since nobody seems to want to talk to Curley’s wife the loneliness makes her doubtful about herself. “What’s the matter with me? Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (Steinbeck 85). Steinbeck wants us to acknowledge loneliness and realize that sometimes people can be together and yet still be
Of Mice and Men: A Lonely Struggle Loneliness is a basic struggle in the human life. Everyone is affected by it once in a while, but in Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men”, he portrays the it through the lives of ranch workers in the early 1930’s America. Loneliness being the dominant theme, he presents characters who are yearning for companionship or an audience, particularly Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. Crooks is probably the loneliest character in the ranch, who suffers from extreme loneliness because he’s black and his surrounding area is very racist towards him.
The character Crooks has shown loneliness throughout the whole story and that drives him to a point where he doesn’t want to be existent to all the other men. In the middle of the book Lennie and Crooks start a conversation and Crooks explains how he’s feeling. Steinbeck writes, “‘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’”(68). Crooks doesn’t get much sympathy from the men because he is black. He is so desperate to play cards with the guys, but all of them leave him out and makes him feel even more lonely. Crooks experiences the most desolation because the men tell him that he “stinks” and can’t play cards because he’s “black. In addition to the last example, the novel also explains in the story how separated Crooks is from everybody else and shows us how alone he actually is. Crooks is the most lonely character in the novel and it shows by his actions and personality. Steinbeck shows, “This room was swept and fairly neat, for Crooks was a proud, aloof man. He kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs” (67). He felt desperate enough to tell the men to keep their distance so he
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.
Whenever you see Curley in the book, he is mostly angry because he misses boxing so whenever he gets the chance to pick on or bully someone, he does it to make himself feel like he’s the stronger and better person. For example, when Curley tries to pick a fight with Lennie because he knew he was mentally challenged he thought he would be able to beat him up easy, and then Lennie broke his hand and he didn’t want anyone to tell anyone that Lennie did it because he didn’t want to ruin his fighting reputation. He also alway thinks that his wife is cheating on him with someone from the ranch because she is always wandering off to places where no one can find her. Also, when Curley’s wife dies and he now no longer has anyone to care for, so that’s going to be a big part of his loneliness because that was the only person he cared for and she’s
I tell you ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself. ”(88). There are a few of the reasons Curley’s wife is so
She tries to flirt with the men but none of them are interested in her. This makes her feel alone or isolated because she just has herself. Because of Curley’s wife gender the reader can tell that this makes her a victim of discrimination. She has nobody to talk to which heavily contributes to her loneliness. Curley’s Wife is very flirty, so she tries to talk to the boys as much as possible.
Crooks distanced himself from the men because of his fear of being sucked into Lennie and George’s dream of owning their own farm and his experiences. Crooks grew up staying away from whites because he was told to based on the discrimination
Crooks proves the idea that loneliness leads to cruelty through his thoughts and actions. “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”’ (72). Crooks is knowledgeable on the fact that lonely man turns into a crazy man. He knows this through his personal experiences. He grew up on a farm his old man had owned. His father hated the fact the Crooks played with the white kids.. So Crooks had a lonely childhood, wanting to play with other kids but never could. Crooks wanted to show Lennie how he feels by telling him that George has left him. Telling him that he found someplace else to stay, or that he got killed. Lennie endeavors to gainsay it, but Crooks keeps pressuring the noetic conception into him until he visually perceives the peril in the situation. Albeit, he did find regalement in the tortuous situation. Once Lennie subsided, Candy came in to talk to Lennie about the dream. Crooks is baffled. He always thought that their type of dream could never transpire. “You’re nuts. I seen hundreds of men come by...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