Lasting Relationships In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck explains how Curley, the boss’s son, is not involved in his wife’s life, because he spends all his time talking about the ways he is going to seek revenge, as a result Curley’s wife gets lonely and is tempted to flirt with the men on the ranch. When Curley's wife tried speaking to Crooks, but he also rejected her fiercely and she said to Crook “ Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever once in awhile, think I like to stick around in the house all time and listen to what Curley is going to do to the other men”(Steinbeck 77). Since Curley’s wife is not getting attention from her husband, she is forced to seek attention from other men in the bunkhouse. Curley’s wife is very loyal to Curley, but because Curley is not involved in her life she complains to other men like Lennie saying “I never get to talk to anybody. I get awful lonely”(Steinbeck 85).

Finally, Steinbeck dehumanizes Curley by the negative criticism that always pursues her and her loss of identity when accompanying someone or something. This is why she is always commonly known as “Curley’s Wife”, proving that she is an unimportant and insignificant character in this book. Plus, everybody in the book says that Curley’s wife causes trouble for everyone; as George says, “She’s a jail bait all set on the trigger,” (Steinbeck, 49) and is constantly getting blame for all that goes wrong in Soledad; as Candy says, You God damn tramp. You done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad.

The indirect characterization of Carlson’s selfishness and oblivion to Candy’s feelings emphasizes Carlson’s harshness and apathy. Also, the characterization Steinbeck uses to describe Curley creates an ominous image of the savage and insecure nature of men. When George meets Curley, he is taken back by Curley’s brutish behavior towards Lennie. Candy assures George, “Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys.

"The meanness...and the ache for attention were [gone] from her face" (82). Furthermore, Curley's wife looks as though she were innocent. Steinbeck depicts her in this way because he wants sympathy to be felt toward her.

“Sometimes it is better to be alone. Nobody can hurt you.”- hercules. There are many examples of how loneliness is portrayed through different characters and events in the book of mice and men. Three characters that show loneliness is crooks, Curley 's wife, and candy.

The couple fails to admit to each other that they are not in love for fear of losing their power and status as individuals. Curley’s marriage is revealed to be a sham through his wife’s conversation with Lennie, “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughtn 't to. I don’ like Curley.” (pg. 89 Steinbeck)

Companionship is like food; we need it to survive. Psychologists find that human beings have a crucial need for involvement in group life and a close relationship. This shows in many ways in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Lennie and George are labor workers in California with a unrealistic long term goal of owning a house with rabbits. As they adapt to their new ranch, they experience many obstacles and meet new people.

Curley’s wife describes her childhood, “I never got that letter. I always thought my ol’ lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ she says no. So I married Curley…” (Steinbeck 88).

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there are many different themes, but friendships is one of the most important themes. The reader can find that each character in the story has a different definition of friendship. The two men are best friends. They have a very special bond. Steinbeck talked about him and his friend who are trying to build a new life for themselves .

Curley’s wife in this novel represents loneliness. Moreover she often had no one to talk to. She was habitually rejected by the ranch hands. Curley’s wife was always looking for someone to bend an ear to; she was not trying to seduce them. Curley’s wife is looking for someone who will listen and talk to her.

In the era of the Great Depression, the lack of friendship increased and therefore accumulated the amount of unstable relationships. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck introduced different friendships within his characters using dramatic and situational irony. Many of his character had unstabilized relationships with other characters. Throughout the book, the friendships were unhealthy and unstable due to forced connections lack of human connections and lack of self-control.

In ‘Of Mice and Men’, written by John Steinbeck, friendship is portrayed as one of the main themes in this novella and a very important part of people’s lives. Steinbeck also portrays friendship by highlighting the importance of friendship and showing how its presence and absence can trigger many positive and negative emotions. Its presence creates hope, feeling of companionship and a sense of responsibility. In spite of friendship’s presence creating positive feelings, its absence does the complete opposite. It generates a feeling of loneliness and isolation. Friendship has many different impacts on many characters in different ways depending on its presence or absence. Although friendship’s presence and absence are complete opposites, they

We all may have had the feeling of loneliness and isolation, wanting companionship feeling abandonment. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, there are men living on a ranch having their own reasons for loneliness or being isolated. The three characters Crooks, George, and Lennie crusade dealing with own ways of loneliness and isolation. Crooks has no one that likes him because he’s black, Lennie struggles mentally and George struggles with always having to care for him. They all can’t decide whether it is that they want to be alone or not. Steinbeck displays through the dialogue and characterizations that these characters experience isolation because of both social barriers and personal choice.

A key aspect of any novel or story is the way the characters interact and feel towards everything. In John Steinbeck’s, “Of Mice and Men”, the characters tend to give off the effect of loneliness and the feeling of isolation throughout the novel. The main characters that give off the effect of loneliness and the feeling of isolation are Curley’s wife, Crooks, and George. They’ve been truly alone, if not in mind then in body.

Similarly to Lennie, Curley’s wife also feels left out and different from everyone else. She is not considered a “normal” wife, or have a “normal” hope for her future. Most people during this time hoped to get married and become a housewife; Curley 's wife aspired to be an actress and only married Curley when it did not work out. Curley’s wife told Lennie, “I ast her if she stole it, too, an’ she said no. So I married Curley (Steinbeck 88).”