In chapter four Crooks says “a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody”. How does the writer explore the theme of loneliness through Crooks and ONE other character in the book?
Crooks
* Victim of racism * Is ignored and isolated because of his colouring * Is lonely because has a lack of family and friends * Has a “mauled” copy of the California civil rights knows his right but can’t do anything about it. * Loneliness affects him he is not wanted by the other men and isn’t allowed in the bunk house, so he reacts the same way doesn’t let anyone in his room * When Lennie comes to visit him he pretends he doesn’t want him, but is in reality happy to have someone to talk to when Candy comes he invites him in too * Confesses his loneliness to strangers how desperate he is to find a friend * When Lennie talks about his dream, Crooks says many men have said that but it never happened, but he still asks if he could come and live with them * He is bullied and despised by the other men, so when he has the chance to bully someone else –Lennie- and be superior, he takes it
Curley’s wife * More friendless than anybody * Victim of misogynist men * Is never named, which makes her even more distant to the men she is only “Curley’s wife” shows women’s social position in the 30’s, and that she is a man’s possession * Is so lonely she has to confess her loneliness to Lennie, whom she barely knows, to have someone to talk to * To the other men, she is a threat, a “jail-bait” * Curley's wife and Crooks appear to resemble one another in their situation. They have been made outsiders and been isolated by the other ranchers in effect of their physical appearance. Their appearances stand as obstacles in their way of making companions; crooks due to his disability and the racial-prejudice of the time and
Curley's wife who is female and married to the boss's violent son. * Dream shows