The story is centered around two migrant farmers; Lennie, who has a mental disability, and George, who watches over and protects Lennie from getting into any trouble. One of the mens’ fellow workers, Curley, has a wife who is constantly ignored and discriminated against because of her gender. While attempting to reassure Lennie after the loss of his pup, Lennie repeatedly states that he must follow George’s orders and avoid talking to her. Frustrated, Curley’s wife begins to rant about her true feelings after stating “‘I get lonely’” (Steinbeck 87). She goes on to explain that she does not appreciate the way the men on the ranch treat her with disrespect. The fact that she can stand up for herself, even though she’s all alone, reveals just how strong and confident of a person Curley’s wife truly is. If she had continued bottling up all of her emotions, she would have never had the chance to express her true emotions. This why why “‘I get lonely’” is the most important phrase used in chapters five and six of the novella Of Mice and
The theme of loneliness is developed in chapter four in Of Mice and Men by explaining the situations that the characters are in with great detail. Unquestionably, loneliness is shown in the chapter when the author shows how Crooks lives his life. When Lennie first enters Crooks’ room, it seems like Crooks doesn’t want Lennie to be there. Crooks says, “You got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.” (Steinbeck 68). Crooks snapping back and being all defensive towards Lennie shows how lonely he actually is. Crooks, who is African American, is very separated from the rest of the ranch workers because of his skin color. Because of his skin color, he is alway by himself, which may cause him to be defensive,
Loneliness is a deserted island. A time of extreme loneliness was the 1930’s. In the 1930’s the stock market suffered a terrible crash, leading to the Great Depression. This depression caused the loss of many American jobs and plunged the nation into a era of great hardship. Desperate for work, many people took on the roles of migrant workers, traveling from farm to farm every few months. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, set on a Californian farm during the Great Depression, displays not only the loneliness of the migrant workers, but the solitude of those who live on the farm permanently. Curley’s wife, Crooks, and Candy are some of the characters that experience a sense of isolation despite having a permanent position on the farm. Loneliness
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.
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.
In Of Mice and Men, loneliness is a prominent theme that reveals itself in many instances throughout the book. It seems that nearly all the characters possess it in some way, shape, or form, but they do not all show it in the same manner. Being lonely can cause tragedies to occur similar to the death of Curley’s wife, or it can create a cloud over someone, causing his or her ultimate end. A couple of characters that seclusion is very noticeable in are Curley’s wife and Crooks. They go about life being secluded, but they show it in different ways. George and Lennie show loneliness, although it seems they do not since they accompany each other. There are many reasons that people become lonesome, including experiencing a lack of attention, having no one to talk to, or being the only one of their kind. These reasons and the situations of each character can be evaluated to figure out exactly why loneliness is a dominant part of his or her life.
Loneliness and isolation is an ongoing theme throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, experienced by several characters to different degrees. Some characters are more isolated and lonely than others, yet every character in the story goes through this theme during one point in the story. There are various reasons why each character is lonely or isolated. In general, all the ranch workers feel some sort of loneliness because they move alone from ranch to ranch and do not have real connections with others, Curley’s wife experiences this theme because she is the only woman on the ranch and nobody wants to interact with her because Curley is very protective and hostile of her. Thirdly, Candy struggles through being lonely and isolated after Carlson shot his dog and because Candy does not work with the others since he is a swamper. Lastly Crooks goes through this theme because he has to stay in a room next to the barn and is isolated from the others because he is black. Steinbeck uses different factors to portray the loneliness and isolation within characters such as physical or mental, which then deliver various messages to readers.
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). Because Curley’s wife needed someone to talk to, she was lonely because Curley doesn’t devote his time to her. Since her husband is always with his friends and he is more happy with his friends rather than his wife, she is isolated because she has nobody staying with
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. As Lennie is a mentally slower but physically strong and George is intelligent but physically weaker, they benefit off of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men reveals the harmful psychological effects that alienation, whether it is self alienation or forced alienation, may generate through the characterization of Curleyś wife, Crooks, and Candy.
First, loneliness is the sadness caused by having no friends or company, and friendship is a state of mutual trust and support between people, they are polar opposites, yet a person may acclaim to have both. For example today a person may have a friend, or many, but still will face loneliness in their life in one way or another. This is shown in Of Mice and Men periodically throughout the novel, knowing this the reader is challenged with such themes, the enticing beauty of friendship between George and Lennie, and the gloomy dreaded idea of loneliness shown by Curley’s wife, Candy, Crooks, and again Lennie. Among these characters the reader may also feel a connection between themselves and the characters, even though the world now and during the publication of Of Mice and Men has changed a lot. The world has reformed, and developed exponentially so, however friendship and loneliness is still a facet of everyday
Loneliness can make anyone affected by it very depressing and sad to see. It is seen in Of Mice and Men in many characters that are prominent in the story. The main ones are Crooks (the black stable hand), Candy (the old worker with his old dog), and Curley’s wife (who is ignored so that they do not get into trouble). Each of these characters have had lasting events that led them here. They all show to have been or become lonely in the story at one point in time.
In the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the character Lennis is a big, tall man who is described as a "big baby" because he has a mental condition that makes him act childish. The character referred to as Curley 's wife, is a petite and pretty lady. She is known to be a troublemaker and does not act the way a "normal" wife would. Although the two characters are very different, they share the feeling of being left out and alone.
As German theologian once said, “We are all so much together but we are all dying of loneliness.” This is quite apparent for multiple characters in the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. George and Lennie are two men that travel around together in efforts of finding work during the Great Depression, which they must do often due to Lennie’s mental illness that causes him to do “bad” things and ruin things for them on multiple jobs. However, they find work as ranch hands south of Soledad, which causes them and multiple other characters, such as the stable buck Crooks, to come face to face with their constant loneliness. Soledad, which ironically translates to loneliness, is relevant to the novel. Crooks, Lennie, and George are some of many of the characters who experience this negative feeling.
The character Crooks is a prime example of how loneliness can change a person. He was always