Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In addition, Crooks also does not know how to relate and function normally anymore because of how his loneliness has effected him. Crooks 's animosity was exemplified when Lennie comes into his room unannounced. He greets Lennie with: "Come on in and set a while... 'Long as you won 't get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down." Crooks has been lonely for so long that he expects people not to talk to him. When Lennie comes in and does not have any intention of hurting him, he realizes it and he let 's his guard down. It may seem that he doesn 't desire friendships or affection, but he no longer knows how to deal with his loneliness. It has made him into another person, one that obtains a relentless hostility toward anyone and everyone that gets close to

Crooks frequently utters negatives (“nobody”, “ain’t”), this reflects on his pessimism and his negative outlook on life. On a larger perspective, this eventually mirrors why he has this specific attitude, which is as a result of peoples ill treated manner towards him because of his racial distinction. This shows how Crooks has evolved to survive in this world purely based on judgments.

Lennie disarms Crooks’ initial hostility with his simplicity which results in Crooks becoming softened by Lennie’s smile. Due to the fact he has been discriminated against and been isolated for so long, Crooks torments Lennie by suggesting George may not come back from town. His cynical behaviour isn’t deliberate but I think Crooks feels like Lennie has invaded his personal space to insult or bully him.

     Crooks is also a proud man, sometimes causing him to forget his lack of authority of the ranch. Crooks grew up on a farm owned by his father where he was respected as an equal to the white men. Now on this ranch on California he is discriminated against and segregated. His pride is shown when he defends Lennie against Curley’s wife, but when she lashed out at him, he knows he must back down or face the consequences. Those consequences would probably be being lynched. Inside he knows he is equal to every other man on the ranch, but if he expressed these thoughts he would probably be forced out of the farm, or even worse possibly. Crooks is a bright man. He knows his rights, but he also knows that being a black man in California his rights didn’t mean anything if he made a mistake and crossed his boundaries.

     Crooks is fascinated by the strength of the friendship of Lennie and George especially how close they are. Crooks said, "Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?" (Steinbeck, 79) Crooks asks these questions because he does not have any friends. He was curious about the friendship of Lennie and George. He wants the people to feel the way that he did when he was lonely, having nobody with them. He is striving to achieve sympathy and understanding from others. Crooks would work for

In the middle of the story, Crooks originally came off as rude and intimidating to Lennie, but through mood, we learn that he really is just lonely. This is found when Lennie wanders into Crooks’s room. Crooks doesn’t want Lennie in there, but Lennie stays anyway, and Crooks soon realizes that he really does need someone to talk to so that he isn’t so lonely. Crooks states, “‘You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me,’” (Steinbeck, 68). This quote goes along with the theme because as you can see, Crooks comes off as very negative towards having a friend. He attempts to shut Lennie out, but Lennie insists on staying. Crooks yells at Lennie a second time, but Lennie doesn’t stop. Crooks states, “‘Well go get your pup, then. Don’t come to a place where you’re not wanted.’ Lennie lost his smile. He advanced into the room, then remembered and backed to the door again.” (Steinbeck, 69). By the way Crooks is talking and the mood he has set, it is obvious that he has been plagued by loneliness. Those who desperately need a friend are usually the ones who shut everyone out; and this is exactly what Crooks is doing to Lennie. Although it was probably unintentional due to Lennie's mental stability, Lennie finally “won the battle”, and Crooks allowed him into his room. Steinbeck writes, “Crooks scowled, but Lennie’s disarming smile defeated 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

Loneliness can cause many to act in ways thats primitive to their being. The book “Of Mice and Men, explores many characters dealing with either loneliness and or the thought of being isolated. George, Candy and Curly's wife are all prime examples in the book of people reacting to their own feeling of being lonely. George, a main character, travels alongside with his Mentally disabled friend Lennie. Lennies actions has gotten george in predicaments that could have resulted in the, getting sent to jail or killed, but instead they run away from whatever trouble he caused.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is book of many themes; one that is very prominent is loneliness. Loneliness is common in many people's lives and that is also true for the lives of the characters of the book. Almost all characters in the book are lonely in one way or the other.

Crook which is one characters that was isolated and lonely because of his race, disability and his deep mistrust of others. He is physically separated from the other men and has his own room in the barn. And since he is black he does not have the freedom or flexibility like the other worker have. His loneliness forces him to talk to Lennie. But when Lennie tried, helplessly in an attempt to make friends with Crook said sharply, "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me." Since Crook has always been treated differently than the other workers he treated everybody how he was treated. However when Crook was little his dad never wanted him to play with the kids since they was white use a quote “There wasn’t another colored family for

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

One night when George goes out with the other men he leaves Lennie alone to play with his pup when he wanders into Crook’s room. Even though the majority of the time Crooks plays mind games with Lennie he ends up expressing his dream of equality. At this time period black people are still heavily discriminated against which effects how others treat him and how he accepts others. "'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, you all of you stink to me." (Steinbeck ___). Even though Crooks is just like all the other men on the farm he is still viewed in a negative way because of his skin colour. Afterwards, Crooks begins to describe his child hood discrimination does not exist and giving him a sense of

Being in most ways isolated, Crooks has excitement and great curiosity due to his desperation for social interaction. In chapter 4, page 69, he questions Lennie, “You travel around’ with George don’t ya?”. Crooks is being shown as curious and nosy into Lennie’s relationship with George. However, this is suggesting more into Crooks enjoyment into having a conversation with someone other than himself, by asking questions he keeps the interaction going because he isn’t used to having company.

Also he tends to react in this way because he is insecure about himself. Crooks, and his character development, is the outcome of him being isolated, lonely, separated from others, and discriminated against. Loneliness drives the way that people think, and how they feel. As Crooks trys to explain to Lennie how lucky he is to have someone to lean on, he feels a sense of sorrow, because what he is telling Lennie, is his life. Crooks proclaims to Lennie, “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that? 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 be near him.” He whined, “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” (72-73). This quote specifically is talking about Crooks life, and what he goes through everyday. That day Lennie became Crooks somebody, which is something he has never experienced before. At first he was hesitant about Lennie, but because he never talks to anyone, Crooks let him in because he realized that Lennie could be that somebody, somebody to talk to and connect with. Crooks symbolically represents loneliness, and the negative effects of not building/having

Evidently from the things he says, he has a hard life, one where he gets no respect from almost anyone. Not only does he get treated poorly, he is aware of how little worth he is to anyone else. For example, when talking to Lennie one night he says, “This is just a nigger talkin’, an’ a busted-back nigger. So it don’t mean nothing, see?” (Steinbeck 71) Crooks knows everything he says will be taken with a grain of salt to anyone else on the farm.