Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

An additional character who portrays loneliness throughout the book is Curley 's Wife. She feels lonely and isolated because nobody wants to be around her in fear of Curley seeing them with her, so she thinks that she has no one to talk to; this leads to a deep, fathomless feeling of loneliness. When she finally does find someone she can talk to, she mainly talks about how she hates the ranch because nobody ever talks to her. Another favorite topic of hers is to talk about how lonely she is all of the time. “—Sat 'day night. Ever 'body out doin ' som 'pin. Ever 'body! An ' what am I doin '? Standin ' here talkin ' to a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an ' a dum-dum and a lousy ol ' sheep—an ' likin ' it because they ain 't nobody else” (Steinbeck 78). This is the part of the novella when the reader stops thinking of Curley 's Wife as a “tart” (Steinbeck 28) who “gives the eye” (Steinbeck 28) to every man she sees; rather,

Curley’s wife has no female friends on the farm; this forces her to tell Lennie “Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody.” in the hope that he will understand her loneliness (86). Curley's wife is trying to tell Lennie that she terribly needs to talk to someone as she barely does ever speak to no-one since they do not listen to her. The people of the ranch do not care for her, leading to her loneliness. She believes that she would make it to the movies one day. She says to Lennie “I coulda made somethin of myself... maybe I will yet “ (124). She is so lonesome, she wants to believe in herself as having a future ahead of her, but of course, she doesn't. Her innocence caused her to believe that she would one day leave this place. When Curley’s wife is Killed by Lennie, Steinbeck describes Curley's wife as a prettier figure “the meanness and . . . ache for attention were all gone from her face” (128). Now that Curley's wife is dead, she now looks happy and has escaped from her loneliness. She finally escaped her prison of

As a reader, we begin to relate with Curley 's wife when she enters Crook 's residence where Crooks is talking to George and Lennie. She enters the room, pretending to be looking for Curley. The men respond to her negatively and act coldly towards her. She begins to talk about her loneliness and how she does not want to be seen as an item, and live her own life. "...Think I don 't like to talk to somebody ever ' once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?"

In 1929, tears swept the nation and gloom bestowed itself upon a once happy place. The Great Depression had started. People lost everything ,so many became migrant workers. Of Mice and Men, a classic novel written by John Steinbeck, emphasizes many sad themes, but gives us a good insight on what life was like in the 1940’s for many people. Although there are other themes, rootlessness, loneliness, and poverty are extremely prominent throughout the novel in many characters.

Curley’s wife, who is never given a name, but always called “Curley’s wife”, is shown with a lot of sexual prejudice. She is referred to as a “looloo” (51) with a very flirtatious nature and “she got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody”, and she might “even gives the stable buck they eye” (51). A "ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like

I don’t care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her” (pg. 32). Curley’s wife tries to get attention from someone besides Curley by showing herself off, but the men on the ranch realize that if they respond to Curley’s wife, it will elicit a violent response from him and a possibility of getting kicked off the ranch. The result is that Curley’s wife gets a lot of negative attention without any actual friendship. She is also the only woman on the entire ranch from what Steinbeck describes. She cannot talk to the men and there are no women that Curley might allow her to talk to, leaving her without any meaningful relationships. Despite her efforts, she ends up even more separated from the other people on the ranch.

As Candy, the housekeeper mentions to George, ?Well, I think Curley?s married?a tart.? (p. 14) What the men do not know is that Curley?s wife is just incredibly lonely, once having dreamt to be a star, and marrying Curley after the failure of that dream. She is all alone in the secluded world of the ranch. Having a husband who pays no attention to her, she tries to find someone to talk to among the men in the ranch, dressing provocatively for that reason only. Unfortunately, the combination of misunderstanding and their knowledge of only one type of women ? the kind they encounter at ?cat-houses? ? drives the men away from Curley?s wife.

Some may think it is just sexism at its finest that determines the books way of calling Curley’s wife as Curley’s and nameless from there on out, but that is not the only resort to the name calling. Curley’s wife is not happy with Curley, maybe the relationship started off good at first but Mrs.Curley realizes that her marrying Curley was really just isolating herself from the rest of the word and gave her no say in her own life. "Awright, cover 'im up if ya wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in pitchers…" (102) Curley’s wife seems to never be fully heard by anyone in the ranch on what she wants in her life or her opinions on others. This caused her prejudice because even to George and Lennie Mrs.Curley was just “Curley’s wife” and still had no say or opinion in what she was talking about. This later cost her her own life when Lennie fails to listen to her cries when he accidentally choked her to

In the novel no one of the characters couldn’t understand the issue that Curley’s wife. The men treated Lennie which has a mental problems better than they treated her. Curley’s wife during the novel tired to communicate with Lennie and George and just have a friendship because she was lonely but George and Lennie refused to have a conversation with her. Lennie and George were afraid of having a conversation with her because they didn’t want to lose their jobs. The only thing that they thought about is the gender because she was a female. In the following quotes Curley’s wife described her life and her dream could be achieve if she didn’t marry Curley, Curley’s wife said “ Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes- all them previews I coulda went to them, an’ spoke in the radio, an’ it wouldn't cost me a cent because I was I the pitcher. An’ all them nice clothes they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural” ( Steinbeck 89). This quote represents the dream that Curley’s wife had and her miserable life. Curley’s wife said “ I get lonely, you can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets

Steinbeck referring to Curley's wife as a 'girl' reminds us that she is still very young and inexperienced about life, suggesting that the innocent, brighter side to her personality has been warped and twisted by the way the men, and her husband in particular, treat her, causing her frustration and driving her even more to make them see her as a grown woman through the way she dresses. Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife is generally spoken about in negative terms. The first time she appears, she is described as blocking out the light, an image that symbolises how she will later block out the light of the dream shared by George, Lennie, Candy and Crooks, first by the way she treats Crooks, making him say he didn’t really want to be part of George and Lennie’s dream, and then by her death, which puts a final end to their plans.

This dissatisfaction was the result of her not being able to accomplish her life dream, to become a movie star. In a conversation with Lennie, Curley’s wife tells him that, “‘…he was going to put me in the movies’”, showing that Curley’s wife had a chance to fulfill her dream (Steinbeck 88). But as the conversation continues, Curley’s wife begins to complain about her life after never receiving a confirmation letter for her movie career. As a result, Curley’s wife had to resort to a solution and that was to marry Curley, who she dislikes because of his temper (89). Since Curley’s wife’s life had already been quite rough, she emerges out as a troublemaker who ruins the lives of men and drives them crazy.

Curley’s wife is trapped in her husband's ranch and is very lonely as she has no friends. She is the property of Curley, that's all she is in her life. (Moss) “ Well, I ain't giving you no trouble. Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever once in awhile?

In a way Curley is the only one trying to maintain his and his wife’s relationship/marriage. As soon as someone on the ranch mentions something about her husband she seems to quieten down. When Curley is too busy doing his work, his wife walks around the ranch craving the attention that she needs in order to feel good in herself. This could be a symbol of her loneliness. He is too busy being second in command on the ranch that he doesn’t pay enough attention to his wife making this urge for attention worse.

Curley’s wife is seen as a tramp because she flirts with every person on the ranch to make her husband jealous. Because of this every on the ranch believes that she just wants to cause trouble. Although everyone believes that she is like that, she is actually desperately lonely on the inside.

The 1930’s was a decade full of loneliness. The Great Depression had a major effect on the American population in many ways including but not limited to personal finances, jobs, health, security, and emotions. As a result, loneliness became rampant throughout America during this troublesome decade. Published and set during the 1930s, the famous novella Of Mice and Men portrays the theme of loneliness very well. In Steinbeck’s book, the theme of loneliness is best represented by the characters of Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Lennie.