In the Novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, you will find that everyone has a bit of loneliness in them, even if it is a little. Curley’s Wife is lonely because Curley treats her wrong, nobody talks to her, and she never got her dream. Candy is lonely because he is old and disabled. Crooks is lonely because he is being bullied, racially discriminated and his skin colour. In the end, loneliness is everywhere and still affects
Silvana Delgado Roberts Structure in Language and Literature II 04/05/2013 Of Mice and Men Essay The characters in Of Mice and Men have a feeling of loneliness and dissatisfaction throughout the book. Loneliness affects the life of Curley's wife, she has a desperate need to talk to anyone that is not her husband, and he's also the reason she is stuck at the ranch. Candy's loneliness comes from losing his pet that he has had for so many years, and he also fears that he will get fired. It also has an effect on Crooks, who does not spend time with people because he is judged and mistreated by the workers in the ranch. John Steinbeck creates the characters in Of Mice and Men with a theme of loneliness
Candy explains this by saying that Curly is “like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys…he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy,” (Steinbeck, Page 26). He is unable to seek reassurance from the other men on the ranch because they are, in a way, afraid of him because of the power he holds over them by being the boss’s son. Curly is lonely as he cannot socialize with the men in a carefree way, nor can he be entirely comfortable with his wife, who was never truly in love with him. However, the reader is never asked to sympathize with Curly, nor does the author ever portray his disappointment in a straightforward way, opting instead to make him angry and confrontational to show that
George is the dominant male in the relationship , because of Lennie’s disability it causes they both very much trouble back in Weed and on the ranch they arrive too after escaping. Also Lennie’s disability causes himself to be put aside from others on big events. While all the other ranch hands go to town, Lennie, Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s Wife are left behind. They’re left behind because to all the other strong and healthy men they’re outsiders. Lennie is considered as an outsider because of his mental disability.
Passage Analyzed: Part _2__, Page __39-40__ Begins “It wasn’t nothing…” and ends with “hardly ever a nice fella…” DIDLS Overview: D: denotative and informal language conveying how George is arguing with Slim about Lennie. I: “seems kinda funny why you are traveling with a cukoo like him” shows how Slim doesn’t understand why George is doing this, and goes to show what he thinks of the “cukoo,” Lennie. D: “He ain’t no cukoo” conveys how George feels about Lennie. Yes he is very stupid, but George won’t let anyone say anything rude about his friend like that because even though he is dumb, he can’t help it. L: George uses restatement a lot to try and get his point across to Slim about how great Lennie is even thought he is dumb, because George loves him so much.
George and Lennie need each other to survive and in the novel this is clearly shown to the reader. However with every other working man this is different because everyone travels alone, works alone and lives alone no friends along the way through the challenging journey named life. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.” However, Lennie broke in and said, “But not us! An’ why? Because ..... Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” As the novel comes to an end so does this relationship when it is broken as George shoots Lennie in the back of the head to prevent him from being tortured and captured.
Everyone on the ranch is lonely; George says ranch guys ‘are the loneliest in the world.’ Crooks says ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long as he’s with you.’ This implies that everyone in the ranch is lonely since all the bunk house men are single so they have no one to comfort them. They have no family to go to or to speak to, they have nothing to look forward to except work for the rest of their lives. George even plays solitaire which is a one player game which implies that even though he has Lennie he still feels alone since Lennie is so immature that he cannot speak to him about the real problems he has. He could feel like he’s in unequal marriage, where George has all the responsibilities.
Crooks notes- For Controlled Assesment- 21st Feb 2012- Of Mice and Men · He has seen many men come and go, all dreaming of buying a piece of land, but is now cynical, as no one has ever achieved it. · He is always called the 'nigger' by the men, which shows how racism is taken for granted. The men don't mean to insult Crooks every time they call him this, but they never think to use his name. · This shows signs of isolation. He feels isolated and bitter.
Just like his back, his life is broken. The character of Crooks foreshadows the end of George and Lennie when he taunts Lennie in the stable. Crooks scares Lennie by telling him that George will never return. In the end, Crooks prediction comes true. “Eleanor Rigby” by Paul McCartney and John Lennon also relates to loneliness because Eleanor Rigby is a lonely person who doesn’t have anyone to share her life with.
Loneliness is a basic part of human life. Everyone becomes lonely once in a while but in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, he illustrates the loneliness of ranch life in the early 1930's and shows how people are driven to try and find friendship in order to escape from loneliness. Steinbeck creates a lonely and blue atmosphere at many times in the book. He uses names and words such as the town near the ranch called "Soledad", which means loneliness and the card game "Solitaire" Which means by oneself. He makes it clear that all the men on the ranch are lonely, with particular people lonelier than others.