Loneliness In Of Mice And Men, By John Steinbeck

In his novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930s. He represents loneliness through his characters such as, Candy, Crooks, Curley’s wife, George and Lennie. Through these characters he illustrates how people are driven to find companionship. Two Characters, The Boss, and Curley’s wife, are never addressed by a name but a title instead. “The old man said, ‘I guess the boss’ll be out here in a minute’… ‘What kind of a guy is the boss?’ George asked” (Steinbeck 11). This shows that the men call the boss by his title and not by his actual name. Just like the boss Curley’s wife is also called by a title and not her actual name but she has a bigger role in the book. Unlike these two, George and Lennie have each other and are the books example of not having loneliness.
George and Lennie are the main characters of the book. These two characters are depicted as having a close bond almost as if they were family. Yet in some parts Lennie is described as being a pet and that he would do anything that
They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I'm Black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me.”’ (Steinbeck 34) Then Lennie happens to come in and help him overcome his loneliness by talking to him about the farm. Crooks then asks to be apart of that plan to cure his loneliness. Crooks loneliness is very similar to Curley's wife. Curley’s wife Flirting with the workers to gain attention because of how she is shunned by everyone just like Crooks. ‘“I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobodybut Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”’’ (Steinbeck 43) She talks to Crooks, Candy, and Lennie in the barn so that she could not feel lonely but the shun her. The interesting thing is Steinbeck shows the people who have a companion as powerful and