"Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is" (Steinbeck, 40). People often keep companions to escape isolation and loneliness. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck depicts loneliness through almost all of the characters.
Steinbeck portrays loneliness and isolation, though many of the characters. In the novel, Lennie and George do not want to be apart from each other. George calls to Lennie, "I was just foolin' Lennie. 'Cause I want you with me" (Steinbeck 12). This quote suggests George wants the companionship of Lennie, even though George would be better on his own. Crooks is faced with isolation due to his race. Crooks states that books aren't the same as having actually men to be with (Steinbeck 72). By including this
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While Curley's wife flirts with the other men: "Nobody can blame a person for lookin'" (Steinbeck 31). This quote uncovers that Curley's wife wants attention and wants the other men to look at her. Candy's long-time companion was his dog. The narrator says, "He did not look down at the dog at all" (Steinbeck 49). When Candy's only companion was withdrawn from him and he couldn’t even looks at the dog because of the despair it causes him. Like Candy, Georges only true companion was taken away from him, too. Steinbeck says, "The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied" (Steinbeck 106). By the indirect characterization, you can tell George doesn’t want to let Lennie go, Not only words, but actions of the characters demonstrate loneness and isolation in the novel.
Loneliness and isolation are shown through almost all of the characters in, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. When The Boss asks George about him and Lennie's relationship, he is surprised because very few people travel together. Even in the darkest of situations, companionship is
Yet Lennie does not understand the difference in how he makes friends and how Crooks makes friends. Steinbeck expresses Crook’s indifference by stating, “Lennie smiled helplessly in attempt to make friends. Crooks said sharply, ‘You ain’t got no right
Candy's dog eventually gets shot for no reason, other than the fact that the others do not like him. The dog was hated by the other men living on the farm. The sense of feeling that others do not like you is one of the main contributes to lonliness in the world today. Steinbeck attempts to allow readers to recognize this, and change their actions and words towards others to prevent this lonely state in
Lennie gives George a loyal companion and somebody to lean on. Lennie never doubts George and he looks up to him. While Crooks and Lennie are talking together Crooks says, “A guy needs somebody―to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain 't got nobody. Don 't make no difference who the guy
Loneliness can overcome companionship Is it better to love than not be loved at all? It is better to experience love because if you don't then you will be lonely. You may not feel the pain that comes with the price of love, you could also not experience the joy that love provides. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Introduces the effects of isolation through its characters. Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of ranch life in California and their desire for companionship.
In the novel Of mice and men by John Steinback, it shows the special relationship between the two main characters, George and Lennie. George is like a father figure to Lennie because Lennie obeys what George tells him to do and George makes sure that Lannie is well protected. George has a more rocky relationship with Lennie. This is shown how in the beginning of the novel George says that his life would be easier without Lennie but later mentions, "No-look! Lennie I was jus foolin' , Lennie.
”(72) he can’t believe that something like that would happen to George that will leave him alone. After George had scolded him had replies ”If you don 't want me I can go off an’ find a cave. I can go away any time”(13). He requests that it would better off for George and everyone else if he is alone, even though he wants someone to talk to and be with. None of the other people really like Lennie on the farm and especially when the climax of the story happened he was dreadfully hated.
Lennie’s mental difficulties often frustrate George, and at times he lashes out at Lennie. When Lennie complains, George explodes, “‘Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy’”(Steinbeck 11). Lennie doesn’t understand that George can’t give him everything. At times, George gets angry that he always has to support Lennie, “‘You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get’”(11).
The quote says that a guy needs someone, and that reflects how Crooks is feeling: he feels that he needs someone. This connects to the theme of loneliness and how it can dramatically impact your life. When you have someone you don't have to be alone and read all night. Crooks has experienced extreme loneliness because he doesn't have any friends. When Crooks is talking to Lennie about if George supposedly, left he is saying what happened to him and one reason why he is so lonely; the other reason being because he is black and it is the early
By giving Lennie these childish and animalistic qualities, Steinbeck is illustrating how his immaturity causes him to get into trouble and distances him from the other workers. Although, through all of Lennie’s mistakes, George stays with him because he needs his companionship as much as Lennie does as it brings them both hope and strength in their desperate situations as migrant workers during the
When Candy loses his dog, he is deeply affected, which is detected by the audience when he says, "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They say he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs" (Steinbeck 60).
While Crooks, a victim of racial prejudice, expresses his isolation openly, he also socializes with other workers on the job and while playing horseshoes with them. Curley’s wife, on the other hand, cannot talk to anyone without suffering the consequences of a jealous husband: “ I get so lonely,’ she said. “you can talk to people , but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”
“‘I didn’t mean to scare you. He’ll come back. I was talking about myself”’(Steinback 72) Even though everyone doesn’t care about Crooks, because of his skin color and in this quote he told Lennie that he doesn’t even care about himself. Crooks tells Lennie to believe in himself and that George will be beside him at all cost.
(Steinbeck 80). Crooks is talking to Lennie about if George were to never comeback and support Lennie. He says this because then he would be like Crooks as he does not have anybody to interact with socially. Another example of Crooks being lonely is in the same conversation with Lennie, “ S 'pose you had to sit out here an ' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books.
The motif of loneliness is explored throughout John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men, not only through the main characters, but the secondary characters as well. Of Mice and Men has many examples of discrimination. Some of the best examples are racism and sexism, which is why two of the characters are shown to be lonely. Crooks, the stable hand, is black, which makes all the others on the ranch want to have nothing to do with him. Similarly, Candy is outed since he is an old cripple.
However, Steinbeck also uses light and darkness to show the hidden sides of neglected characters such as Crooks. Crooks, the negro stable buck, is portrayed to have died from the inside and is living merely as a breathing corpse. Not because of the fact that he could not achieve the American Dream or live a lavish life. But, simply because of the fact that he is a negro who is surfeited of being ill treated and discriminated. “His eyes lay deep in his head, and because of their depth seemed to glitter with intensity.”, give the impression that inside Crooks is full of anger and indignation.