How Does Steinbeck Show Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

Cameron Brown
"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck is a novel which has the theme of loneliness. The idea of loneliness is shown throughout the novel. Steinbeck also shows characters being lonely by using sexism racism and ageism to show lonliness in this novel. When Candy meets George, he tells him about Crooks being the nigger stable buck. Around this time black people were thought of as lower than white people. Crooks was friendless and had no one to talk to. He has his own bunk in a separate room away from the bunk house where the others lived and by being alone he could leave things anywhere he wanted. Crooks is suffering from racial discrimination because he is the only black man on the ranch and is not allowed in the bunkhouse with the other men because of his color. The author also uses Candy to show loneliness in the novel. Candy becomes lonely after his old dog that he loved very much was shot because he was old. The other men on the ranch say the dog was a "stinking hound".Candy also says "I wish somebody would shoot me when I ain’t got no more good” (Steinbeck 60)which describes Candy as lonely character.

She is the only woman on the ranch and is constantly trying to make friends with Lennie and George. She tries to make Lennie to speak to her no matter what George was saying about her. Curley’s wife said to Lennie, “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”(Steinbeck 86). But Lenneie didn't care what she had to say. Curly's wife also flirts with the men on the ranch to seek attention from them because she doesn’t get it from her husband. The workers think she is a "tart" but she is a lonely woman seeking too much attention which is shown when she tells Lennie "I never get to talk to anyone, or else, Curly gets