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Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Isolation Essay

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The word isolation is a term that is used to describe someone as being confined without much, or any contact. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the two characters, Crooks and Curley's wife had isolation forced on them throughout the entire course of the novel. The character Crooks was an old black man, during 1937, who lived in a little hut next the pile that was kept for the manure. He lives there by himself away from everyone else, and has no contact other than when he is given orders about work. Curley’s wife has been isolated because she is not trusted by her own husband and everyone considers her to be too flirty and a tart. These two characters both deal with isolation because they both don’t matter to anyone and are …show more content…

They are the only characters who really have that deep sense of loneliness and isolation. They feel though that if the opportunity arises they would do anything to take advantage of it and get out of their isolation, feel like something more. This is seen when Crooks tells Lennie that he wishes in the future he can be educated and that is his American Dream. Many other people in this novel also have this concept of the American Dream which was famous around this time. A character would be Curley’s wife, she is different from Crooks and her american dream was to be famous and to go to Hollywood. In the novel Curley's wife says, “Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes—all them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an’ spoke in the radio, an’ it wouldn’ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. An’ all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural,” (89). This shows how she also wanted the American Dream and similarly to Crooks, ultimately that never came true for both of them, and their isolation still overwhelmed

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