Crooks Alone

Has anyone truly been alone? Some children, from the ages of 2 to 8, ask their parents to play with them, but only end up pushed aside. Once the parents make a habit of this, the children begin to feel lonely, because they are forced to play alone. But as adults, they’re enveloped by people daily. In the novel Of Mice and Men, there are several characters who feel alone, even while with their coworkers. Crooks and Candy are superb examples of lonely people in Of Mice and Men. Crooks being the black stable worker, didn’t have anyone to talk to. The old handyman, or “Swamper”, Candy would always walk with his ancient dog.
Crooks was alone most of the time, because he was different. He felt alone because of the color of his skin. The ranch owner wouldn’t let him in the bunkhouse with the other white ranch workers. The fact that Crooks is black made him feel alone because people used it against him. “Crooks… had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn… Crooks’ bunk was a long box filled with straw, on which blankets were flung” (Steinbeck 66-67) Since Crooks wasn’t allowed in the bunkhouse with the other men, he made sure that no one came into his room. He didn’t want them in there because Crooks’ thought that they would discriminate him. He also wanted to keep all of his belongings to
Steinbeck uses the fact that one person does not need to be alone to be lonely. They could be surrounded by their best friends in the whole world, and they could still feel lonely. Like in Of Mice and Men, many people feel lonely but actually aren’t. Candy feels alone because he lost his dog that he's had since …, or Crooks feeling lonely as a result of him being discriminated by his co-workers. Steinbeck’s definition of lonely is you can be with someone and be lonely, because of your