Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Ever since humanity has come into existence, the world has allowed dreams to blossom into beautiful flowers or be rejected and die like a fly swatted in a household. Each dream may end in a success or a tragedy, but it is up to the discretion of the cruel, but rewarding world humans inhabit. In the novel of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, a myriad of characters all have dreams that they passionately want to fulfill. Curley’s wife, who remains unnamed in the book, has a dream of becoming Hollywood’s biggest star. Crooks, the black stable-hand only dreams of being able to have friends and be seen as an equal to others. Lennie and George are a pair of migrant workers who want to live the American dream and have their own ranch. Each of these characters’ dreams were all torn down by the world, illustrated by Steinbeck as a cruel place where dreams cannot come true, no matter how passionate a person may be.

Loneliness is not only being unhappy from lack of companionship, but it has many components. For example, somebody can have many friends and still feel lonely, when another can be all alone and feel satisfied with his/her life. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men portrays loneliness throughout the novel and how it impacts the characters. Attention seeking, isolation and violence are some of the many negative behavior effects shown from seclusion.

Loneliness can be a very harsh emotion. Some let it take over their whole lookout on life . The way each individual deals with it is different but sometimes it bothers people to the point where they let it affect their dreams and decisions. In the book Of Mice and Men, characters make big decisions that affects their dreams that leave them unhappy.

“Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.” Dag Hammarskiold

Loneliness is sadness because one has no friends or company. In Of Mice and Men there are tons of lonely characters but, the top three loneliest characters are Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife. The most lonely character is Crooks because he is black and all the ranch workers stay away from him. The second lonesome character in the novel is Candy because he has no family left and he had a dog but then his dog was killed. Finally, the last character is Curley's wife because she is the only girl near the ranch so she has nobody to talk to.

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” (Steinbeck 13). Loneliness affects people in different ways. Some people go out of their way to get attention from others, and others isolate themselves. In the story Of Mice and Men, some of the people living on the ranch are struggling with loneliness themselves. Loneliness affects characters in Of Mice and Men through Crooks isolating himself from others, Curley’s wife flirting with other men for attention, and Lennie worrying about George leaving him to take care of himself alone.

Loneliness is something that many people have to go through in their live. The people who have to go encounter this pain can feel depressed and isolated. In Of Mice and Men there are three main characters that exemplify this Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks. Curley’s wife because is a victim of this because no one wants to talk to her, Candy’s old so people keep away from him, and Crooks is a different skin color, which makes people discriminate against him.

One of the characters that shows loneliness is Curley’s wife. She is lonely because she is the only woman on the ranch. She said, “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely” (86).

In the book, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, loneliness is a big part of many characters’ lives. Curley’s wife can’t talk to anyone, George didn’t have anyone to share his troubles with, and Candy doesn’t have anyone either.

The characteristic of loneliness is seen throughout the story in Of Mice and Men. Loneliness is first seen in the story when Lennie and George are walking alone by themselves because the bus driver wouldn’t drop them off directly at the ranch. George and Lennie are lonely because they really have no family to go home to, nor do they have a home at all. Lennie had some family, his Aunt Clara, but she passed away so now George is tasked with taking care of him. The story that George tells Lennie about guys that work on a ranch are always lonely is another example of loneliness. In a sense, they are just two nomads. Here are some examples of loneliness in the book, Of Mice and Men.

Candy was not the first person that we meet in the story that shows their feelings of loneliness. They all did. I saw Candy’s loneliness when we first met him when he walked in on George and Lennie and said “I ain’t interested in nothing you was sayin’. A guy on a ranch don’t ever listen nor don’t ast no questions.” pp. 22-23. The next time I saw Candy’s loneliness was when we saw his old and nasty smelling dog and learned its story. Candy said, “I had ‘im since he was a pup, god he was a good sheepdog when he was younger.” pp.23 The dog was all he had all day since he was a younger man. Candy was a swamper because of his disability. He didn’t hang out with the other men that were on the ranch all day. It was and had always been Candy and

In Chapter 2, Steinbeck introduces George and Lennie’s living quarters on the ranch. The long bunkhouse they are residing in is described as such, “The walls are whitewashed and the floor unpainted” (Steinbeck). The description depicts the bunkhouse as being very dull and unkempt. The living environment was not designed for the workers’ comfort, but adequate survival. In juxtaposition with the setting in Chapter 1, the setting in Chapter 2 shows a less dream-like, harsh reality for the two men. Above each bunk, there were shelves for the men to place their personal belongings, “[a]nd these shelves were loaded with little articles, soap and talcum powder, razors and those Western magazines [...]” (Steinbeck 17). The workers don’t have many personal belongings, and their possessions are of little value. The only worth the items have is to provide the bare necessities for survival and/or minimal entertainment. Even so, it’s evident that the men don’t prioritize material things, but rather their personal skills and abilities on the ranch. The safe haven portrayed in Chapter 1 provided a sense of warmth, peace, and security. In actuality, the bunkhouse they have to live in has a sense of coldness, and does not allow much privacy between the workers sharing the same

“You never realize how lonely you are until it’s the end of the day and you got a bunch of things to talk about and no one to to talk to” by unknown. The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a story about to migrant workers during the Great Depression. The main characters of the book are two men. One man is Lennie Small who is mentally challenged and another man named George Milton. Lennie and George on their way to a ranch after an accident that had happened at their previous ranch, Weed.

Of Mice and Men Topic: In Of Mice and Men, many of the characters are lonely. Discuss. The novel, Of Mice and Men, is written by John Steinbeck in 1937 during the Great Depression.

In “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck uses literary elements which still appeal to readers today. Throughout the book, Steinbeck tells the story of two homeless farm hands during the Great Depression, named Lennie and George. Lennie, a big dopey man, who doesn’t know the extent of his own strength is lead by George, the smarter of the two, as they travel across California in search of work. During their travels, George and Lennie experience constant discrimination and work only to pursue their dreams. Furthermore, throughout the novella, Steinbeck uses symbolism to show how activities such as discrimination and dreaming are part of the human condition, and have persisted throughout time.