The Role Of Friendship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Friends are needed in a person’s life for emotional stability whom without would lead to a life of loneliness and solitude. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the characters Crooks, Candy and Curly’s wife exhibit a form of loneliness. They are driven to George and Lennie’s friendship because they lack support and that emotional stability in their own lives."A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is, longs he with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick" (Steinbeck, 13). Throughout his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows that victims of isolation crave to fulfill a companionship to fill in that void of loneliness.

In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he illustrates the journey George and Lennie have throughout a significant part of their lifetime. Throughout the novel, many characters, including George and Lennie, are facing lonesome and they struggle to deal with it the right way. Most of the men are all alone because they have no family left or they isolate themselves from their peers. Loneliness touches each character at some point in the novel and it really emphasizes the impact it can have on an individual. Steinbeck uses the characters Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy to develop the theme that containing loneliness will make someone’s desperation deepen.

“A guy needs somebody- to be near him...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”(Steinbeck 72). The Great Depression, which occurred in the 1930s, was rough on migrant workers, young and old, women, and black people alike. Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks undergo loneliness and discrimination during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men characters Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks, like so many people during the 1930s, experience harrowing times of being isolated from everybody else during those times. The things they face are being separated in a different room, being shunned by men who think they are above them, and people thinking that they are too old and useless. The theme of loneliness is expressed and felt in the novella Of Mice and Men through the isolation and discrimination of Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks.

Imagine being discriminated against because of your ethnicity; or being the only woman on a ranch, stuck in a loveless marriage, when all you really want is someone to talk to. What about having to kill that friend, and bury all chances of breaking free from the life of the average migrant worker? How would you feel? These scenarios in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men illustrate the need and desire for companionship in life. There's Crooks, the negro stable buck; Curley's wife, whose marriage to Curley hasn't exactly been lively; and George and Lennie, whose friendship is strong enough to get them to a better life and out of the negetive cycle that the average migrant worker became trapped in during the Great Depression.

In Of Mice and Men, there are an abundance of themes throughout the novel. One of those themes is friendship which is shown clearly though George. In the novel, when Lennie says, “Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you.” (Steinbeck 14) shows how close of friends George and Lennie are. They rely off of each other because George physically helps Lennie, and Lennie helps George mentally to not be as grim. However, another on of the themes is loneliness. Although George has Lennie, he can get lonely because he does not have anyone else to talk to. George is not the only who is lonely because Curley’s wife also shows that she is lonely when she says, “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (Steinbeck 77) When Steinbeck was writing his novel, he wants readers to understand even though our best friends are loyal, they need other people to talk to and will at sometime lose

George and Lennie are different from other workers because they have each other to look after, and Candy has his dog as a companion so he would not feel alone. Crooks yearns for companionship because he is segregated and lonely. Similarly to Crooks, Curley’s wife doesn’t have anyone and she goes around the ranch flirting with other ranchers. Ranchers yearning for companionship reveal how hard it was during the Great Depression. For example, in Life As We Know It, humans have to find a way to survive the moon eclipse, to survive they have to fight for food. Survivals had face many emotional and physical challenges, where they start feeling lonely and longing for someone to be at their side during harsh times to soothe away their loneliness. Human beings are designed to feel and think, sometimes feeling alone cause them to lose their minds, and they would do anything to have a strong relationship with someone that will help them get rid the feeling of loneliness. In Of Mice and Men, characters are struggling to find a friend that helps them get through the Great Depression. Being lonely is not easy during the Great Depression, but it causes people to forget themselves and changes them into a different

These are all strong, recognizable, strong friendships that have been built in the past, but the

Loneliness plays an important role in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. He illustrates how people are driven to companionship through Candy, Curley's Wife and Crooks. Candy, the disabled and aged man, is devastated after his lifelong companion's death. Curley's Wife, ignored by her husband and seen as a troublemaker to the other ranch hands, seeks attention. Crooks, denies friendship because of the color of his skin and wastes away alone in his room as loneliness eats away the human soul.

During the Great Depression, it was not uncommon to become morosely secluded while working. Men would go far away from their families in search of any jobs they could get, with only themselves to confide in; colleagues only filling in the void of friends and family partially. Naturally, John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, written during this period, would reflect this fact as a major aspect of the story. Loneliness would become the sinew of Of Mice and Men, manifested in some of the story’s main characters: Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. These allusions to loneliness are found throughout the book, mimicking the rampant disease of isolation at the time.

Loneliness plays a large role in developing themes and characters throughout the novel Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a story about the lives of most American workers during the Great Depression. The story follows two friends, George and Lennie, as they try to get enough money to buy their own piece of land in Salinas, California, which seems like an impossible dream. Along the way, George and Lennie meet many other workers struggling with a common problem, loneliness. Throughout the story, it is made clear that everyone is lonely and is longing for companionship, even though no one can truly find friendship in the harsh world they live in. Three of the loneliest characters in the novel are Candy, Curley’s Wife, and Crooks.

As the Great Depression creates a sense of isolation and loneliness, two men seem to have it all figured out as they find their way through the vast land of California. During this time, men are forced into isolation and loneliness as they travel to find work, but George and Lennie represent the need for companionship as they have their whole lives planned together. In his writing, John Steinbeck uses character mannerisms, symbolism, and social injustice to show loneliness and the need for companionship in the novel, Of Mice and Men.

For example, the relationship between George and Lennie. The two often converse about how other men live compared to how they live having a companion, "Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why" (Steinbeck 15). This passage infers that George needs Lennie just as much as Lennie depends on George. Steinbeck also employs the importance of character relationships through Candy and his old dog. Carlson wants to shoot Candy's dog, however Curley is hesitant, the dog has been with Candy since it was a pup and been his only constant companion (Steinbeck 45). Particularly, this segment demonstrates friendship because it is rare to have a constant companion and loosing that relationship is devastating. In addition, the character relationship between Curley and his wife is a large aspect of the novel. While confiding in Lennie, Curley's wife confesses to Lennie how she dislikes her husband and how badly he treats her. (Steinbeck 89). In this statement, you see a glimpse of how miserable she really is and how desperately she is seeking someone to just simply have a conversation with. Overall, in the novel Of Mice and Men Steinbeck incorporates many examples of character relationships to show the extent of loneliness and need for companionship in the

In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a book which involves many plot twists and crazy events leading to others. George and Lennie travel together everywhere they go, although Lennie still acts like a kid, George still manages to stay with him. George has to constantly has to be getting jobs for them because every job they get, Lennie ruins the chance of them keeping the job. The last job they had they lost it because Lennie grabs and holds on to anything he likes without letting go. He grabbed on to a woman in a red dress and when she had began screaming, Lennie panicked and wouldn’t let go.

In the novel “ Of Mice and Men " by John Steinbeck, there are many different themes , but friendship is one of the most important themes. There are many different meanings of friendship. According to, Dictionary.com the meaning of friendship is: A friendly relation or intimacy. Friendship is having a close bond with a person. There’s a saying “ The greatest gift of life is friendship.”

Friendship is excessively crucial for all people. The ability to live a delighted life is not achievable without friendship. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he represents the true interpretation of companionship. Throughout the novel, two friends named George and Lennie experience many distinctive events with and without friendship depicting the sincere definition of friendship. New characters are constantly introduced with their experiences of isolation to confirm the meaning of friendship such as Crooks, a lonely African-American man who is constantly segregated and Curley’s wife who is constantly feeling solitary and desires attention. Over unique events throughout the novel, John Steinbeck’s message about friendship is that