Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Everyone has dreams, big and small. When one dreams, there is a scent of whimsical hope in the air mixed with the powerful drive for success to obtain their luminous goals. But, many times these luscious dreams end up in grief and pain instead of a promised joy due to the hurdles in life, such as the certain circumstances that society professes or the flaws in a person that restrains them from their aspirations. The writer, John Steinbeck, incorporates this ideology in his novella, Of Mice and Men by creating three pivotal characters. Lennie, Crooks, and George all have schemes that go wrong, and yet hope to illustrate their desires of fulfilling their American Dream and to be prosperous for their own independent purposes.

Barbara Sher once said, “‘Isolation is a dream killer’” (qtd. in Wishcraft). In his novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck scrutinizes the effects that alienation can have on society. Many characters experience loneliness throughout the novel. He illustrates the results of individuals becoming isolated from their peers. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrays characters alienated from society in order to illustrate the harmful effects of loneliness caused by discrimination.

Another character who is lonely is Curley’s wife. She married Curley only because she never got her letter from the Hollywood producer, not because she loved Curley. As a result, she has no relationship and no friends ,so she wanders the bunkhouse every day looking for somebody to talk to. She wants to escape loneliness by talking to people, but everybody pushes her away, even Curley, her husband. As she says on pg 89, “I don’ like Curly. I could been in the movies, an’ have nice clothes.” This shows that Curley was just her last resort option in her idyllic path to movie stardom. The last character affected by loneliness is Crooks. He is black and thus he is pushed away by everybody and even has to live in an isolated room in the bunkhouse. Because of this he pretends to push away people too even though he longs for their presence because he doesn 't know how to act any differently. In the book, Steinbeck shows that it is almost impossible for Crook’s to escape loneliness unless he escapes out of poverty first.

Crooks is the loneliest guy on the ranch. He is the only colored man on the ranch and is always called the nigger or the busted back nigger. Being the only colored person on the ranch there is a lot of discrimination and prejudiceness. What also makes him the loneliest person is that he got kicked in the back by a horse so he is hunched over and can barely walk so he can’t do much with the other ranch hands. He is a permanent ranch hand like candy because he can’t travel from his back being crooked. His room is a shack by the barn and it’s full of tools like a shed. From the discrimination he isn’t allowed to stay in the bunkhouse with the other guy’s and isn’t allowed to have a light in his room.

The most important dream in this novel is that of the two main characters Lennie and George. They

Steinbeck presents dreams as a tool to aid the men of the ranch’s contentment. They give a sense of purpose, a reward for long days of hard labor on the ranch. The idea of dreams prolonging survival and happiness is best portrayed by the dream and relationship shared by Lennie and George. Their mutual dream to "live offa the fatta the lan" (Steinbeck 57) brings to light their need of other’s companionship to alleviate isolation and loneliness, and to make their dream seem more realistic. To immerse oneself in this idyllic fantasy world with acres of vegetable garden, and rabbits, was the perfect

Crooks is the most character who is affected by the lack of friendships. The main cause of Crooks’ lack of friendship focuses on the fact that he is black. Similar to Curley’s wife who is isolated from the rest of the workers because she is the only woman on the ranch. Crooks is also isolated from the other workers but because he is black. He was forced to sleep in a separate bunk than the others. This caused him to be lonely. Steinbeck shows why Crooks background partly explains his aggressive nature. Crooks’ dream of being seen as equal to everyone else and not getting judged by others based on his skin

Feeling sad for someone’s bad luck is sympathy. Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, has many people who i feel pity for. I feel sympathy for Curley’s wife, I feel more sympathy for Crooks, and I feel most sympathy for Lennie. Sympathy effects many people in different ways. It is shown throughout Of Mice and Men.

Multiple characters in the book Of Mice and Men support the theme of loneliness. To begin with, Crooks, a black stable hand, demonstrates loneliness. During his bitter conversation with Lennie Small(a ranch hand) in the barn, Crooks cries, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick”(72). You can furthermore tell that Crooks is lonely, because when Candy enters the barn for the first time “It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger”(75), which shows that Crooks is yearning for company.

The character of Crooks is a representation of the segregation and mistreatment the minorities in society had to face. “Maybe you guys better go. I ain't sure I want you in here no more. A colored man got to have some rights even if he don't like 'em". In the story Crooks lived in the harness room separate from the regular ranch workers who lived in the bunkhouse altogether.

Because of Crooks’ crooked spine and his skin color, Crooks is more stationary than most other men. This also means that on the ranch, Crooks is left alone because he is black and is lonely because he is looked down on and treated as being inferior to everyone else. Curley’s wife is very different from Crooks when it comes to physical attributes. “A girl was standing there looking in. 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. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers” (Steinbeck 31). Curley’s wife is white and because she is married to the boss’s son, she is treated with more respect than most of the working men. Because she is the only woman on the ranch, she cannot talk to and do anything with any other women. Since Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch, she becomes very lonely and ends up flirting with the other working men on the ranch, like Slim, Candy, and Lennie. Crooks and Curley’s wife are very different when it comes to physical attributes, because Crooks is treated as being inferior and Curley’s wife is treated with more respect than any worker. But, both Crooks and Curley’s wife’s physical appearance make them lonely. Crooks is lonely because he is a cripple and black, so people tend to keep

Crooks, the only black stable hand on the ranch, loved to read and because he was so lonely he liked to clean to occupy his time (Steinbeck 67). He was named Crooks because his back became crooked after he had been kicked by a horse (Griesbach). The fact that he was the only Negro on the ranch; he was forced to be isolated (Steinbeck 66). He understands that he gets treated differently because of his skin color (Steinbeck 68). No one ever comes in his room or invites him into theirs, he’s not allowed to play cards with others, and every one of them thinks he smells bad all because he’s black (Steinbeck 68).

At this point Crooks is reminded that he is not a white folk and that he will never be treated as one. In the end of the story one character, curley's wife shows a ton of loneliness. She states ”Wha’s the matter with me?” she cried.

Curley’s wife has no friends and she has a bad reputation of being a flirt. She is the only female character in this novel and expresses her desire for companionship by flirting with the men on the ranch. Crooks is an African American stable buck on the ranch that is segregated from the other men because of his race. Crooks is not allowed to be in the bunkhouse with the other ranch workers. He acts hostile and bitter towards everyone.

“Of Mice and Men” is written by John Steinbeck, published in 1937, it was set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression in California. George and Lennie are the two protagonist characters; they are farm workers who have a dream of one day owning their own ranch. They find work in a ranch near Soledad and are met by different characters, most of which are lonely and the only thing keeping them alive is their dreams. Loneliness is the unpleasant emotional response to isolation and lack of companionship, in the novel “Of Mice and Men” Steinbeck portrays the theme of loneliness and isolation effectively through key fictional characters. This essay will describe the way loneliness is shown in “Of Mice and Men.”