The Role Of Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

Loneliness is a very common trend in Of Mice and Men as it affects almost everyone in the book in one way or another. It affects almost every character, however, in this essay, we will be focusing on Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s Wife. They all are lonely because of how they are different from everyone else in one way or another.
Somebody who was very affected by loneliness in this book was Crooks, he had very few people who actually talked to him or even acknowledged him at times. His skin color severely altered what he could do or where he could be due to the racism of the Great Depression. It was stated that Crooks keeps his room very clean and that he is into books, however, he is lonely because of the fact that he lives at the bottom of the bunkhouse. Crooks even stated at one point that “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody, Don’t make no difference who it is” (Steinbeck 80). The meaning of this quote is it shows how he needs someone to be with him and not be so isolated anymore from his white peers. It also shows how Crooks feels like he can trust Lennie probably because they are both different in their own ways. Another person who was severely impacted by loneliness is Candy, the only thing he really ever had was his dog and then they
She felt lonely because she didn’t truly love Curley so she felt she didn’t truly have anyone. “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought too, I don’t like Curley He ain’t a nice fella” (Steinbeck 89). This shows that she doesn’t care for Curley because he always needs something of her, or is doing something mean all the time. It also shows that she could have had such a better life if she didn’t marry him. She is lonely on the ranch and all she wants is someone to talk to, however, all the men deny her and call her a slut, the only person who truly talks to her is Lennie before her