How Does Steinbeck Shows Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

Do you ever feel lonely? In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there were people would live on the ranch in my essay three characters describe Loneliness & Isolation Curley’s Wife, Crooks and Candy . Curley’s wife is the only lady on the ranch she doesn’t talk to anybody as a friend and she gets beaten by her husband Curly . In the book she said “why can’t i talk to you ? I never get to talk to nobody I get awful lonely”.

Loneliness is where somebody is sad because they have no company or friends. Loneliness is demonstrated by many characters in the story “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. These characters include George, Lennie, Curley’s Wife, Candy, and more. These characters show loneliness by always crying about no company, looking after one another during the smallest of moments, and lastly telling each other about each and everything that goes on. George is lonely and wants to take care of Lennie.

Of Mice and Men First, Steinbeck reveals how George displays his loneliness as he is constantly looking for something or as if he’s missing a part of him. For example, George expresses his loneliness when he tells us “Cut the cards again and puts out a solitary lay” (Steinbeck 28). What solitary is a game made for just one person. George is trying to find some comfort at the ranch by playing a game where he can get his mind off it. It also shows how George has no one so he can not even play a game with a friend.

Lastly, Candy, a useless old man, demonstrates the theme of loneliness as well. Candy lost one of his hands and his most loyal companion, his dog. He is useless and mostly just talks about events and people around the ranch. Candy is lonely in a different way than the others. He talks with everybody and is usually included in the activities but he lost the only thing that made him feel young and accompanied.

In the book Mice and Men by Steven Steinbeck is based at the time during the Great Depression and people were not as close as people are nowadays. It was a hard time for people living in that time period because money was scarce and the weather was not that good during the Great Depression. It was a hard time for people. It was every man for themselves, when it came to everything. Loneliness was at an all-time high where people were not wanting to help other people, everyone was on their own.

Loneliness is a major theme in novels and novellas. Many authors express loneliness in their writing to show some tension building up in the novels or novellas. Some authors do not expresses loneliness but instead, they present another theme such as sexism. John Steinbeck writes about how many characters are lonely in Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck presents loneliness through the characters in the novella such as Crooks, Candy,  and Curley's wife throughout the novella.

Every person needs a kind and loving soul in order to escape the misery of being lonely. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, it is shown through an isolated environment that characters with little human interaction are affected negatively. Lennie, a mentally challenged character, escapes this environment through the touch of soft objects. The character of Candy uses his old dog as a friend for the same purpose. A lonely and powerless character referred to as Curley’s wife shows what happens when unsatisfied with their companion. John Steinbeck demonstrates in his novella the basic human need for companionship through the characters’ desperate attempts to seek comfort in a lonely world.

Loneliness is something that many people have to go through in their live. The people who have to go encounter this pain can feel depressed and isolated. In Of Mice and Men there are three main characters that exemplify this Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks. Curley’s wife because is a victim of this because no one wants to talk to her, Candy’s old so people keep away from him, and Crooks is a different skin color, which makes people discriminate against him.

Due to Candi losing his only companion, Curley's wife not having a name, and the majority of men don’t travel together when they work, loneliness is a recurring theme in the book Of Mice and Men. Because of the fact that Candi lost his only companion, Curley’s wife doesn’t have a name, and most men don’t travel together when they

Loneliness affects Curley’s wife by wanting attention from other men. She is the wife of Curley, the boss of the ranch’s son. An example of how loneliness affects her was her trying to talk to Lennie. “ ‘Well I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in awhile?’ ” (Steinbeck 77). In the story, Curley’s wife is arguing with Crooks, Lennie, and Candy. She is complaining that no one ever lets her talk to them. People are always calling her a tart or flirt. This proves that she does not get the amount of attention that she wants. She will go out of her way to get attention from others because she is lonely. Another example of how loneliness affects her is, “ ‘Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely’ ” (Steinbeck 86). Again, Curley’s wife is talking to Lennie. In this part of the story, she is trying to convince him to let her talk to him. She is flirting with him and trying to be sweet by letting him pet her hair. This proves that the lack of attention makes her feel the need to be around other men. Being dressed up on the ranch with curled hair, high heels and pretty dresses will catch other people's attention. She argues that she just wants a friend to talk to. The attention getting makes up for her loneliness that she feels. Therefore, Curley’s wife talks to other men for attention which helps her feel less lonely than she

Almost all of the characters faced continuing cycles of loneliness, which made their lives difficult. For example, Lennie, who has traveled with George for his whole life and who has always had a friend in George, still captures mice and puts them in his pocket to pet them when he feels lonely. Because of his strong build, he ends up killing every mouse he pets by accident, which in turn makes him even lonelier. Also, Curley’s wife explains how she only married Curley to make her mother upset, and how Curley will not let her see other men, which makes her have to sneak off to the ranch every day just to have some human contact besides her

When you think of “lonely characters”, many come to mind, for many different reasons. Forrest Gump is a perfect, well known archetype of loneliness. He lives a life of solitude, having not many friends due to his disability. Even though there are people who love him and care for him, they don’t truly relate to his way of life. He spends most of his life away from home, dealing with death frequently.

Everyone is affected by loneliness, but specifically a good community can help bring you up. A book titled ‘Of Mice and Men’ by Steinback shows us the struggle and difficulties the men had in the early 90s, dealing with poor paid jobs and corruption. For the Article “5 Reason We don’t need Community” by Trevor Lee discusses about the different ways the community isn’t needed upon us like. Now the Novel “House On Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros shows us the life a of a young girl who does have much but herself looking for a path for a new ‘home’. Although some communities have can have a negative effect on people's, negative communities can be motivation and teach ‘broken ones’ to do better.

The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck contains an evident theme of loneliness and isolation. Steinbeck uses his characters to invoke this theme throughout the novella. One character that is able to portray this perfectly is Curley's wife. John Steinbeck's main message through the use of the theme of loneliness, is that it's better to isolate oneself from others in order to achieve your goals.

The loneliness is maintained by the challenges that the characters have to face, and they sustain those challenges of being inhumane towards each other. Crook, a figure in the story who experiences discrimination encounters the challenge of race, due to the book’s setting in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Crook is a black American man who is excluded from activities and has to occupy a room in a stable, and he is not allowed in the bunkhouse for it is only for the white men. Crooks tries to defend himself by saying “You got no rights comin ' in a colored man 's room. You got no rights messing around in here at all” (Steinbeck 4.80). but Curley 's wife replies: “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy, it ain 't even funny" (Steinbeck 4.81). At this point, he resorts to backing down and replying “Yes, ma’am" (Steinbeck 4.81). He acknowledges the fact he will be and always has been discriminated against because of the certain colour of his skin. Equally important, Candy who is described as "a tall, stoop-shouldered old man … He was dressed in blue jeans and carried a big push-broom in his left hand" (Steinbeck 1.18). His right hand is simply a