The Role Of Loneliness In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Being lonely could be a dreadful emotion to experience. It causes people to feel helpless and forsaken and can divert them from what's really important. It may also stand in the way of overcoming goals and accomplishing dreams. In Of Mice and Men, loneliness played a role in multiple characters and their decisions. George, Lennie, and Crooks all had a lonely side with dreams they wished to achieve, but sadly couldn’t because of tough choices and misfortunate actions. Like most men in Of Mice and Men, George isn’t a big fan of working for someone on a ranch. He didn’t like traveling around all the time and all the traveling made it hard to have any sort of company except for Lennie. George said, “Guys like us, that work on ranches. Are the …show more content…
In Of Mice and Men, Crooks had to deal with the same issue. Because of his skin color he was treated poorly by most people on the ranch and had to sleep alone in the barn. Crooks says, “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (Steinbeck 73), stating how Crooks feels about being by himself in his room all the time. He never gets to go out and have conversations like the one he shared with Lennie and Candy. They treated him equal which lead to his dream of wanting to join them on their own ranch. “... If you … guys would want a hand to work for nothing- jus’ his keep” (Steinbeck 76), explained Crooks trying to work his way into their plan by offering his labor to stay at the ranch. But he soon changed his mind about joining them. When Curley's wife had let herself in his room and their conversation Crooks finally stood up for himself. Crooks says angrily, “Now you jus’ get out, an’ get out quick” (Steinbeck 8o), showing how he's had enough with the way everyone has treated him and is finally showing self confidence, but Curley’s wife didn’t take it to kindly. She explodes on Crooks saying’ “I can get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny” (Steinbeck 81), which was was a racist remark regarding her hanging him and showing how much power she had over Crooks. After Curley’s wife's statement, Crooks wasn’t feeling the same about anything. All of the kindness and confidence he had from Lennie and Candy treating him equal was gone. Crooks expressed, “Well, jus’ forget it, I didn’t mean it. Jus’ foolin” (Steinbeck 83), showing how he was taking back what and said about joining the ranch and trying to act as it was a joke from the start. He went back to feeling as if he didn't mean anything and had no one and didn’t believe in his dream of getting treated equal on their own
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