Of Mice And Men Loneliness Analysis

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck uses the theme of loneliness throughout the entirety of the novel. When people feel lonely their way of life is different than that of someone's who isn't lonely or them if they were not lonely. They may act differently than they would if they weren't experiencing loneliness, they may even change their way of life. The effects of loneliness on people are displayed in the novel Of Mice and Men through the characters of Curley's Wife, Candy, and Crooks. Candy is isolated after the loss of his hand since he is no longer able to work in the field with the other men. Candy's only companion was his dog, a dog he says used to be a great sheepherder in its day, a dog of which he had raised from a pup. Charleston insists that candy puts the dog down because it is far too old and it is suffering. Candy says that he has had the dog far too long to put it down until Slim joins in, saying
Crooks also doesn’t trust any of the other men, because of the prejudice he faces, and is disabled which prohibits him from tending to the field like the other men do day to day. In order to diminish some of the loneliness he faces he reads books, although he realizes its not the same as human interaction, it keeps him busy. When Lenny goes to the barn Crooks becomes hostile in retaliation to how he is treated by the other men, and because he is able to have control over Lenny since he is mentally handicapped. After he realizes Lenny has become scared Crooks quickly apologizes, as much as he wanted companionship he also wanted to be in charge for once. Crooks wanted more than anything than to talk to someone, to feel like someone would listen to him, so he then turned to Lenny knowing the man would listen to what he had to