Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Of Mice and Men Essay To be lonely doesn't always mean you are alone, isolation in the ranch is expressed in different manners. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, a collection of dissimilar characters gather and express their loneliness in different methods. The characters Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife all exemplify loneliness and isolation. With the characters, John Steinbeck is showing us the sense of alienation appears when least expected. Candy is an old swamper with one arm, Candy and his old dog have many characteristics in common such as their age and health. For example, the men gang up on old Candy and pressure him to let them shoot his dog, “That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple” …show more content…
For example, he is constantly discriminated and ostracized, he is confined in his room, “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black” (Steinbeck 68). This shows that Crooks is resentful towards the other men. This is because the men do not interact with Crooks because he is African American, therefore he has become of a hard personality and remains aloof. In addition, Crooks is depressed because he has nobody to talk to, “A guy needs somebody... to be near him... a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody “ (Steinbeck 71). This shows Crooks is in desperate need for a friend, he works with the animals all day excluded from the men on the ranch. Crooks is the misfit, he spends the majority of the time alone, he lives in a room near the animal’s manure pile. Crooks helps convey the grief and loneliness on the ranch in a realistic form.
Curley’s wife is a very young woman, behind her confidence and flirtatiousness is a mask of loneliness and confusion. Curley’s wife is a very restless woman that constantly seeks an audience on the ranch, “Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?”(Steinbeck 77). This shows that Curley’s wife is just as lonely as the men on the ranch. This is because she is the only woman on the ranch and everyone attempts to disengage any attention received by
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