Of Mice And Men Loneliness Analysis

In the book Of Mice and Mice, John Steinbeck illustrates many themes throughout the book, but the theme loneliness stood out the most because it impacted many characters in the book. Of Mice and Mice talk about two men’s lives traveling together to and working on ranches to make enough money to lead their perfect lifestyle. All the other men, the workers, are all alone and they only live for themselves. But these two men are here to work and live together, which doesn’t last for a very long time. During the 1930s, Steinbeck portrays loneliness through Crooks and Curley’s wife because it was a major part of their life. Out of all the characters, Crooks is the loneliest character in the book because of his race and skin color. He was put in the barnestable because he was the only African-American on the ranch and didn’t deserve to lead the lifestyle the other white
guys had.
All the rest of the guys viewed Crooks as an “ invasive species” because he wasn’t like the rest of them. At that time, blacks weren’t give the justice treatment they were supposed to get. Crooks says “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.” This quote demonstrates the isolation between him and the other workers on this ranch which is making him segregated from the rest. Crooks isn’t even able to do anything as a group making him lead a lonely life. As a result of this, Crooks is starting to develop a negative perspective of the world and how skin color affects one’s life. In this case, loneliness is present because it is affecting how one has to live because of their color. It is creating a wall between the guys and him resulting in shaping different views of everyone. As referred to many characters in the book, Curley’s wife is flirtatious and a handful of trouble. As a result many of the guys stay away from her causing her to be lonely because of her behavior. Curley’s wife said “ Why can’t I talk to you? I never
get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” This illustrates how Curley’s wife behaviour towards other guys causes to be lonely. Even Lennis is trying to resist her because of all the stories about her the guys say. When she says “Why can’t I talk to you?” implies how no one is willing to talk to her because they know what situation they are going to get tangled into. In this quote, she is trying to manipulate Lennie because she knows that Lennie thinks like a child. So it makes it easier Curley’s wife to talk to . Many of the guys view her in a negative manner therefore causing her to be isolated. In conclusion, loneliness has impacted many of the characters also at the same time their point of view. Alienation is shown in quite a few ways. But in these two scenarios, it was exemplified through race of one and the attitude of another, which led them to living hard lifestyle on the ranch. These two characters aren’t similar in any way but their emotions is what makes these two relatable. Overall, what stands out the most is loneliness can cause someone to have various aspects of one another in a negative manner. This will change how they perceive things because of the lack of interaction through another.