Mice of Men

Loneliness is a basic part of human life. Every one becomes lonely ones in a while but in Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men”, he illustrates the loneliness of ranch life and shows how people are driven to try finding friendship in order to escape from loneliness. He uses names and words such as a town near the ranch called “Soledad”. He makes it clear that all the men on the ranch are lonely, with particular people lonelier than others. I think all the people living in the ranch are lonely. This proves this where Steinbeck describes the bunk house where all the workers sleep. “Over each bunk there was nailed and apple box with the opening forward so that it made two shelves for personal belongings of the occupant of the bunk.” The way Steinbeck’s describes the bunkhouse indicates their lonely lives.

The loneliest person on the ranch has to be Crooks, who suffers from extreme loneliness because he is black and he is living in a ranch and the surrounding area which is very racist. He lives by himself, because the other men do not like him. He is so desperate for company and for someone to talk, even though he does not really show it. When Lennie comes in into his room he just talks and doesn’t care if Lennie is listening or not, because he is so desperate. Crooks say to Lennie “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t matter no difference who the guy is, long he with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick.”

Curley’s wife is controlled by her husband Curley, who does not let her speak to any of the men on the ranch, which leads her into being lonely. Even though Curley’s wife is mentioned frequently, we never know what her name is. This just shows how people do not care for others, leading to loneliness. I think all the men do not consider her as a normal human being because none of the men are too scared to talk to her in case Curley becomes jealous and wants to start a fight. I am given the impression that she is living in two