Of Mice and Men Essay on Loneliness

Loneliness is one of the primary themes in Of Mice and Men. Throughout the novel, John Steinbeck shows the enormous effect that loneliness has on the characters. Steinbeck most clearly illustrates this theme through Crooks, Candy, and Curley 's wife. Ranch hands are ideal types of people to portray as being lonely, because their constant travel leaves them without someone to talk to or share things with. Steinbeck also shows how important it is for every human being to have a companion. Companionship is necessary in order for someone to live an enjoyable life. Although loneliness affects each one of the characters in Of Mice and Men differently, they all experience negative feelings from their lack of

Friends are needed in a person’s life for emotional stability whom without would lead to a life of loneliness and solitude. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the characters Crooks, Candy and Curly’s wife exhibit a form of loneliness. They are driven to George and Lennie’s friendship because they lack support and that emotional stability in their own lives."A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is, longs he with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick" (Steinbeck, 13). Throughout his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows that victims of isolation crave to fulfill a companionship to fill in that void of loneliness.

People are considered to be social beings, yet, again and again, they seek to falsify the claims of civility, and show themselves as the detached individuals they tend to be. In his novella, “Of Mice and Men,” John Steinbeck designed several faulty pairings that display the true disparity and detachment that are proven to be a part of every relationship in the story. Through the associations of the main characters, Lennie and George, along with several other characters within the narrative, Steinbeck exposes the root of 1930’s relationships in promises, loneliness, and a basic need for companionship, rather than any true fondness- a junction that can easily be nullified.

After the loss of Candy’s dog, he becomes lonely but has to find a way to overcome loneliness. John Steinbeck creates Candy to be an old and crippled man. Candy, since he is a older man, might not get as much work. That isn't the only reason. Steinbeck describes Candy with, “a round stick-like wrist, but no hand” (18). At this moment, George and Lennie are meeting and observing Candy for the first time. Throughout the story, the reader does not hear of Candy doing much work on the ranch. He “[shifts] his broom” on the first day but that might be the only deed he does (18). The farm workers stereotype him to be weak because he is old and only has one hand. When we first meet Candy, we learn that Candy has one main friend. That is his

     There is only one thing in life that is really needed and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-estee. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all show some form of loneliness. They are curious of George and Lennie’s friendship because they do not have that support in their life. Through his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck demonstrates that many times, a victim of loneliness will have a never-ending search to fulfill a friendship.

had an old dog at the beginning on the novel .He had this dog for a

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck looks at the theme of loneliness as it affects many characters on the ranch. Crooks, Curley's wife, and Candy are the most excluded characters on the ranch, because they all have dreams that they will not be able to live out and they all are at loss when it came to companionship. Crooks is lonely because he is the only black man on the ranch. Since this book is set during the Depression, Jim Crow laws are still in effect, whites and blacks had separate facilities for socializing and living. Crooks comments that he can't live in the bunkhouse, and cant even play cards in there.

Candy is the janitor on the farm. His best friend is an old dog he got when he started working on the farm. Steinbeck explains, “A shot sounded in the distance.” (Steinbeck 49). They guys were in the bunk and Carlson- one of the men who works on the farm, offers to shoot the dog to put him out of his misery. When they hear the dog shot Candy is all alone. This was his best friend of all times. Candy explains, “I'd make a will an leave my share to you guys in case…. I ain't got I relatives nor nothing…” (Steinbeck 59). He said this because he was trying to escape loneliness. When his best friend was killed he needed to find a way to escape it do trying to go with George and Lennie to their farm after they raised enough money it would keep them all

Subsequently, Steinbeck uses Curley's wife, the woman married to the Boss's son, to contribute to the theme of loneliness. Curley pays very little attention to his wife. As a result, she goes around talking to the other guys on the farm. The problem with this is Curley gets mad when she talks to anyone else besides him. Curley's wife explains, "I get lonely… 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?" (Curley's wife 87). This quote demonstrates the intense loneliness she feels when she states that Curley tries to seclude her from everyone so he can have her all to himself. In an attempt to curb her loneliness, Curley's wife tries to talk to all the men on the farm. However, due

He says to Lennie that he reads books all the time, but he also says “Books

The book Of Mice And Men is set a few miles south of Soledad, which

     In terms of emotional stability, there is one thing in life that is really needed, and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from lonliness and solitude. Lonliness leads to low self-esteem and deprivation. In the novel, Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck, the two main themes are friendship and lonliness.

Steinbeck talks about how Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Candy are outcasts on the ranch and because of this they are very lonely and often seek attention of others. Crooks is discriminated against because of his race and he reads books to try to mollify his loneliness. Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch and all the men avoid her because of her misjudged behavior, so she is very lonely. Candy is very old so he is excluded from everyone else. His only friend was his dog but it eventually got killed. All of these characters live hopeless lives because they are lonely. Steinbeck’s message to us is that people need companionship and friendship in order for their lives to be joyful and

Loneliness,we’ve all felt it before. Whether by ourselves, or surrounded by people, the feeling of loneliness is an inevitable feeling. It hits you,and what do you do? You try to find something to fill the void;too make you less lonely. In the book Of Mice and Men,loneliness is just one of many underlying themes,people are often driven to find some sort of friendship in order to escape loneliness. It could be another person,maybe it’s an animal. However it is done, a form of friendship is formed,and the loneliness is gone.

John Steinbeck is the author of the story Of Mice and Men. He grew up in the Salinas River Valley in California, where Of Mice and Men takes place. Steinbeck grew up in 1929 when the Great Depression was going on. Of Mice and Men also takes place during the Great Depression. There were many migrant workers during the Great Depression. Migrant farm workers are men who move around the country working and earning wages and then moving to the next farm. These migrant workers do not have a home base of operations, they have little to call their own. Moving around a lot, migrant workers do not have time to make lasting friendships. In his novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses George, Candy, and Crooks to