Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
“Why do people have to be this lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?” (Haruki Murakami) Murakami’s words reflect every person’s internal loneliness and the yearning for companionship, a dominant theme in John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men. Crooks, the black stable buck, and Curley’s wife both search for a person or something with which to fill the void. However, their efforts at reaching out to others prove to be in vain and have negative consequences. On one hand, Crooks battles varying degrees of loneliness and isolation, not only because of his race but because
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When Crooks lets his defensive side get the best of him and plagues Lennie’s mind with doubts, his only justification for doing so is that everyone needs somebody and it “[d]on’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you…[and when a] guy gets too lonely...he gets sick” (73). Crooks is just sick and tired of being treated like he is the scum of the earth itself so just for once, he allows himself to experience having the upper hand over someone else. Although he isn’t allowed in the bunk house and is racially discriminated, his behavior is pathetic and not becoming of someone who is trying to ease his own loneliness. Crooks realizes his mistakes too late however, and because of that he bears the fruits of his labor. Crooks never gets his happy ending and instead is left in his little shed sentenced to a lifetime of pain and loneliness. The chapter begins and ends with “Crooks s[itting] on his bunk…[holding] a bottle of liniment...he poured a few drops of the liniment...and reached under his shirt to rub [his spine]” (67). Because of his minimal efforts at finding companionship as well as racial prejudices, the circular nature of the chapter implies that Crooks’s lifestyle will never change. The aforementioned quote and its placing is an example of the literary structure,
When Crooks lets his defensive side get the best of him and plagues Lennie’s mind with doubts, his only justification for doing so is that everyone needs somebody and it “[d]on’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you…[and when a] guy gets too lonely...he gets sick” (73). Crooks is just sick and tired of being treated like he is the scum of the earth itself so just for once, he allows himself to experience having the upper hand over someone else. Although he isn’t allowed in the bunk house and is racially discriminated, his behavior is pathetic and not becoming of someone who is trying to ease his own loneliness. Crooks realizes his mistakes too late however, and because of that he bears the fruits of his labor. Crooks never gets his happy ending and instead is left in his little shed sentenced to a lifetime of pain and loneliness. The chapter begins and ends with “Crooks s[itting] on his bunk…[holding] a bottle of liniment...he poured a few drops of the liniment...and reached under his shirt to rub [his spine]” (67). Because of his minimal efforts at finding companionship as well as racial prejudices, the circular nature of the chapter implies that Crooks’s lifestyle will never change. The aforementioned quote and its placing is an example of the literary structure,