American English March 3, 2014 The Bane of Happiness John Steinbeck uses Loneliness and Isolation as two main themes in the novel Of Mice and Men, due to the effects of the Great Depression on ordinary people in the agricultural areas of America. Loneliness is a dominant theme in the novel Of Mice and Men. In this novel, John Steinbeck introduces the essentialness of loneliness of the life of many men during the Great Depression. Steinbeck uses concepts such as ageism, racism, and sexism to portray loneliness. Throughout the book we are introduced to many characters that display loneliness and isolation, some more than others.
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.
Crooks has to go through life on the ranch without any real friends and no one to talk to. Crooks spends his time reading books but this is not enough as he would like someone to talk to. None of the men in the ranch talk to crooks, as he is black. Another example of a character being lonely would be Curley’s wife. She is an example as she is the only woman on the ranch and tries to make friends by flirting with the other men.
Crooks’s little dream of the farm is shattered by Curley’s wife’s nasty comments, putting the black man right into his "place" as inferior to a white woman, somebody already seen as being inferior to everyone else on the ranch to begin with. Crooks refuses to say Curley’s wife is wrong, he accepts the fact that he lives with ever-present racial discrimination, and says he had "forgotten himself" because they’d treated him so well. Crooks self-opinion isn’t based on what he believes he’s worth, but on knowing that no matter how he feels, others around him will always value him as less. As quickly as he got excited about the
Sarah James Mrs. Lewis AP Lang. October 21, 2013 Isolation of Crooks In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men isolation is the central theme throughout the text. Many of the characters are alone and have no one who truly cares about them, but the most isolated character is the stable hand, Crooks. Crooks is black, which sets him apart from all other characters, and is looked down on by almost everyone due to this. He has his own room in the barn because he is not permitted to sleep in the same room as a white person.
Lennie is considered as an outsider because of his mental disability. Crooks is considered an outsider because he is an old black man whom back is hurt and can’t really stand up straight the reason why he’s even working in the ranch is because he’s the only one who knows how to keep the stables in control. Candy is considered an outsider because he’s an old man with one of his hands disabled. Curley’s wife was considered as an outsider
What is loneliness? Loneliness is when you have nobody there for you when you feel like it’s only you in the world and you keep everything inside you. Of Mice and Men, a novel by John Steinbeck, relates to loneliness because of the character Crooks. Crooks is discriminated against everyday. Everyone stays away from him because he’s black.
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.
They are all, in turn, escaping from their problem and they all end up in the barn. The barn is like their home and it is in fact Crooks’ home. As Crooks has faced so much discrimination and racism in his life he has turned aggressive and impolite. He was forced to live and work alone – isolation – and because of this when anyone does try to talk to him he snaps at them. ‘Crooks said sharply, “You got no right to come in my room.
Crooks, a black stable-hand, is segregated because of the pigment of his skin. Steinbeck depicts discrimination through Crooks’ isolation from other men, his desire for friendship, and his way of turning his vulnerability into a weapon. First, Steinbeck demonstrates Crooks’ loneliness through his separation from the other men on the ranch. Initially, the other ranch hands discriminate Crooks because of his disability that sets him apart from them. Steinbeck describes Crooks’ living condition to be, “For being alone…Crooks could leave his things about, and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the other men” (67).