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Essay on Loneliness in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

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Explore the implication of loneliness in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. In the light of the American economical collapse, there were a significant number of itinerant workers, who lived in a nomadic lifestyle, migrating in search of jobs. This continuous migration deterred them from building substantial relationships. Due to the lack of companionship and depression of the era, it appears that the characters are bound to loneliness. Most of the characters in John Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ are caught in the trap of loneliness. To escape from the terrible fate in reality, all the characters that are lonely have a dream. George and Lennie, for example, dream the American Dream of Going to the West and owning …show more content…

We know this as, ‘Candy lay still, staring at the ceiling’. This suggests how lonelier he must have got after his dog got shot. His loneliness leads him to the dream dreamt by Lennie and George. Crooks is another character who is alone. This is because he not only is old and cripple, but also black. He shows clear signs of solitude. He says to Lennie that he reads books all the time, but he also says “Books ain’t no good. A guy wants another guy to talk to.” and, “ A guy goes nuts if he has no one to talk to.” Crooks is never treated properly because of the prejudice against him. He is isolated from other characters because of his colour, and most of the ranch hands mistreat him by calling him ‘nigger’. As a result of aloneness, he gets cynical. He wants Lennie to feel how one feels when he is lonely. He says that, “S’pose that George returns no more.” This shows the effect of loneliness and isolation on him. The author uses him to show the prejudice prevalent against blacks during that time. Another lonely character is Curley’s wife. She is lonely, as she is the only woman on the ranch she has no one to talk or gossip to. She tries to talk to some of the workers like Lennie by saying, "Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” However, they do not talk to her as they are afraid of Curley and so, treat her as a tart- as George and Candy call her. This definitely adds to her being alone. She

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