Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

What does it mean to be lonely? Well in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men he shows loneliness to be the lack of having someone to talk to or to simply have human interactions with, which everyone needs. Steinbeck does this by telling the story of two men, George and Lennie and a lonely world that they live in. Characters like crooks and Curley’s Wife are experiencing the loneliness that is seen as a common theme in the novel. Crooks’ words to Lennie about loneliness was the strongest reinforces to the theme of the novel, because Crooks’ words where the first and biggest flat-out saying that without someone we get lonely. The theme of the novel was also directly stated by Curley’s Wife words to Lennie about loneliness similar to Crooks’

This is important to the development of the theme because everyone who works on ranches are lonely expect for George and Lennie because “we got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.” (Steinbeck 14). They are the only people in the novel not infected by the sickening loneliness. When George had to kill Lennie at the end, he wasn’t only killing Lennie but himself as well. George has no life worth living without Lennie. George is infected by the sickness and he becomes just another ranch worker as seen by his statement in response to Candy “I’ll work my month an’ I’ll take my fifty bucks an’ I’ll stay all night in some lousy cat house. Or I’ll set in some poolroom till ever’body goes home. An’ then I’ll come back an’ work another mouth an’ I’ll have fifty bucks more.” (Steinbeck

Crooks has only had but two people in his room before and doesn’t get to talk or interact with the other workers on the ranch. When Crooks tells Lennie “A guy goes nuts if he an’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ ne gets sick” (Steinbeck 72-73) he is expressing to Lennie the lack of human interaction and how that loneliness has made him sick. This is very important for the development of the theme throughout the novel because its gets straight to the point of loneliness and why the people in the novel experience it. We can also see this with Curley’s Wife’s’ statement to Lennie “why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely. . . How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (Steinbeck 86). Her statement just like Crooks is a clear reflection of the theme, but the major difference Curley’s Wife’s statement and Crooks that her statement comes right before the climax of the of the novel causing less of an impact on Lennie, where as her letting Lennie touch her hair had the most. On the other hand Crooks’ conversation with Lennie had put the idea in Lennie’s head that George may leave him alone and we see this effect on him latter towards the end of the novel, As by what the rabbit tells him “He gonna leave ya all alone” (Steinbeck