The Effects of Loneliness
“I think cruelty is loneliness disguised in bitterness” (Thomas W. Hiddleston). This quote expounds how the lack of company and friends can potentially lead you down a path of heartlessness, and despair. In the story Of Mice and Men, you follow the duo George and Lennie in their quest to achieve the American dream. John Steinbeck utilizes his story Of Mice and Men to show how the loneliness of the characters leads to their cruel actions, he exposes this through the characters Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. The character Candy proves the point that loneliness leads to cruelty. When we’re introduced to this character he has an old sheepdog at his legs. Later we learn that the dog’s a reflection of Candy
…show more content…
You ain't no good now, you lousy tart’” (95). Once Candy had realized that the future he hoped vanished, he reacted by vituperating the corpse. His woefulness and realization that he will be alone again urged him to become cruel.
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
They don’t really have an friends or family because they just go from job traveling around. The characters in Of Mice and Men show that loneliness is a problem that must be overcome In order to live a happy, fulfilled life. Candy is a very lonely, and doesn’t really have any one to be there for him. In the story Carlson kills his dog, the only thing that Candy really has. “I ought to of shot that dog myself”(61).
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
Loneliness is one of many central themes in John Steinbeck’s classic novella, Of Mice and Men. Throughout the story many characters sought after the company and attention of others. Each character has a certain barrier that keeps them isolated from the outside world. Three characters who portray this loneliness throughout the novella are Crooks, Curly’s wife, and Candy. Each having a different wall between them and society.
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
Loneliness is present throughout this novel. For example, this isolation is shown when the ranch hands go into town on Saturday night to ease their loneliness with alcohol and women. Similarly, Lennie goes into Crook's room to find someone to talk, and later Curley's wife comes for the same reason. Crooks says, “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”. (72) Even Slim mentions, “I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean.” (41) George’s taking care of Lennie and the dream of the farm are attempts to break the pattern of loneliness which is part of the human condition. Lennie's desire to pet soft things comes from his need to feel safe and secure, to touch something that gives him that feeling of not being alone in the world. For Lennie, the dream of the farm parallels that security. However, George and Lennie are not the only characters who struggle against loneliness, the theme of loneliness is most notably present in Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife. They all fight against their isolation in whatever way they can. For example, until its death, Candy's dog stopped Candy from being alone in the world. After its death, Candy struggles against loneliness by sharing in George and Lennie's dream. Curley's wife is also lonely
had an old dog at the beginning on the novel .He had this dog for a
The motif loneliness is explored throughout John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men, not only with the main characters, but the secondary characters as well. Crooks, the stable hand, is a colored, which makes all the others on the ranch want to have nothing to do with him. Similarly, Candy is outed since he is an old cripple. Curley’s wife is given similar treatment since, she is a women. Of Mice and Men has many examples of discrimination.
I’m tired of getting my hopes up for things I know will never happen. So in John Steinbeck OF Mice and Men, three of the main characters Candy, Cruley’s wife, and Crooks show how loneliness can affect a person. The characters in Of Mice and Men show that loneliness is a problem that must be overcome in order to live a happy, fulfilled life. Candy shows how loneliness can affect a person when they lose an animal. “I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in case I kickoff, ‘cause I ain’t got no relatives no nothing”(Steinbeck59).
In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks all suffer from the same fate, loneliness. Candy is lonely since he has nobody, Curley’s wife is ignored, and Crooks is segregated from the rest of the workers. Of Mice and Men’s characters show that loneliness is a problem that must be overcome in order to live a happy, fulfilled life. Candy doesn’t have any family or friends, and who’s only hope was for George and Lennie’s dream. Candy had a long time relationship with his only dog, “Candy looked about unhappily ‘No,’ he said softly ‘No, I couldn’ do that.
The loneliness of Crooks, Lennie, George, and Curley's wife is shown in many different ways. Crooks is the most lonely guy on the whole ranch. For example, he is black so he cannot go inside the bunkhouse, he is not wanted inside the bunkhouse. He plays horseshoes until it gets dark, then he sits in the barn and reads by himself. The loneliness of Lennie is shown through his actions.
As a character of sacrifice and isolation, Crooks has his own way of being empowered. He plays a cruel game with Lennie, telling him George has left for good. “‘I said s’pose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more.’ Crooks pressed forward some kind of private victory. ‘Just s’pose that,’ he repeated” (Steinbeck 71). Crooks, a vulnerable character, uses Lennie’s own vulnerability to feel powerful. The third example is Curley 's wife. His wife is portrayed as a troublemaker who although married, flirts with other men. Curley’s wife sacrificed her happiness. She reveals to Lennie that her dream was to become a movie star, however she believed her mother was against her so when she met Curley, she married him the same night. “‘Nother time I met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers. Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it… I never got that letter… I always thought my ol’ lady stole it… I ast her if she stole it, too, and’ she says no. So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night” (Steinbeck 88). She also reveals of her dissatisfaction for her marriage and husband. “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n to. I don’ like
Candy is significantly older than the other men in the novel and is missing a hand because of a farming accident. This, along with his bond with his graying dog, cause the other men to diminish him. During our first meeting with Candy his dog is put down by the other men. He kept a calm composure throughout the act but later conveyed his real emotions “You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else.
Candy had a dog in the beginning of the book, but it was shot because it, too, illustrates that the strong stay and weak go sooner or later. The dog was weak and of no use so Candy sadly agreed to let Carlson (a ranch hand) to shoot his dog. Candy’s dog was the only thing that kept him alive/happy and without it he desperately embedded himself in other people's ideas/action in order to fulfill his desire to be with them or to do something with them. I’ve never lost anyone close to me except like my cat goldfish, whom I was sad and mad for when it died. Candy is old and weak, no one can afford to spend time with or do anything with him because he is of no use. He is always excluded and ruled as not important, like when Carlson (another ranch hand with a gun) and a few others pretty much force Candy to allow them to shoot his dog. Candy’s voice is excluded and they all gang up on him. I've been in situations where even though I knew I was in the right, people were against me because I was younger. I was with my brother but no one would care to listen to my opinions and ideas when creating a game we were going to play. I was very angry and frustrated and it’s very sad to see how Candy is neglected and forced into loneliness. Imagine how you would feel. “Candy looked a long time at Slim to try to find some reversal. And Slim gave him none. At last
Every person needs a kind and loving soul in order to escape the misery of being lonely. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, it is shown through an isolated environment that characters with little human interaction are affected negatively. Lennie, a mentally challenged character, escapes this environment through the touch of soft objects. The character of Candy uses his old dog as a friend for the same purpose. A lonely and powerless character referred to as Curley’s wife shows what happens when unsatisfied with their companion. John Steinbeck demonstrates in his novella the basic human need for companionship through the characters’ desperate attempts to seek comfort in a lonely world.
Loneliness is one of the few things that may haunt society or bring a sort of calmness to it. In the novela, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck tells the story of two ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, who moved to a new job in hopes of making their American Dream come true. They met a number of foes and isolated people on the ranch, some causing Lennie’s mental disability to become more of a burden than it already is. Many different events led up to the death of Candy’s dog, the death of Curley’s wife, and the death of Lennie himself. Through various characterization, Steinbeck’s belief that both personal choice and social barriers cause isolation is demonstrated by the characters of Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks.