Of Mice And Men Essay On Loneliness -- essays research papers

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck looks at thetheme of loneliness as it affects many characters on theranch. Crooks, Curleys wife, and Candy are the mostexcluded characters on the ranch, because they all havedreams that they will not be able to live out and they all areat loss when it came to companionship. Crooks is lonelybecause he is the only black man on the ranch. Since thisbook is set during the Depression, Jim Crow laws are still ineffect, whites and blacks had separate facilities for interactand living. Crooks comments that he cant live in thebunkhouse, and cant even play cards in thither. "I cant playbecause Im black. They say I stink."(68) This quoteillustrates that Crooks feels the pain of rejection more than that helets people see. In fact, Crooks protects himself by actinglike a "proud and aloof man."(67) The full extent of Crooksssuffering is made clear in chapter 4 when Crooks lashes outat Lennie. Viewing Lennie as a symbol of all the whit e menwho had hurt him, Crooks strikes out in anger, saying "Yougot no skilful to come in my room...Nobody got any veracious inhere but me."(68) Steinbeck states that "Crookss facelighted with pleasure in his torture."(71) Crookss anger,though, is really just a cover for the pain he experiences fromconstant isolation. "A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody ...A guy gets too lonely and he gets sick."(73) This appetency tohave a connection is apparent later in the scene whenCrooks hears Lennie and Candys plan to buy a little ranch.Wistfully, he suggests, "If you guys want a batch to work fornothing, just his keep, why Id come and lend a hand."(76)No matter how hard Crooks may try to hide the hurt hefeels, he clearly would like to be included in this venture withthe other men. Crookss dream, however, lasts only for afew minutes. When Curleys wife threatens Crooks with alynching, he quickly remembers the awful reality of hissituation . Steinbeck write s "Crooks had reduced himself tonothing. There was no personality, no ego - his voice wastoneless."(81) The character of Crooks reflects the universalneed for human connection as headspring as the brutalizing effectsof racial prejudice. Like Crooks, Curleys wife is very lonely,but she is lonely for different reasons. Like Crooks Curleyswife suffers from... ...ion. But Candy gets some life storyback in him when he hears George and Lennie talking abouttheir dream farm. Hearing this gives Candy a reason to live.He would love to join George and Lennie on there farm andhe even tells them that hell give them money to help financeit "I aintt much good with ony one hand. I lost my hand righthere on this ranch...an they give me two hunderd an fiftydollars cause I los my hand. An I got fifty more saved upright in the bank, right now...and I got fifty more morecomin... Spose I went in with you guys. Thas three hundredan fifty bucks Id put in."(59) When George agrees to letCa ndy jump on the police van and join the farm, you can tellCandy is extremely pleased. But with death of Lennie thedream of the farm dies to. Like the other characters Candysdream was stolen from him. Candys character was lonelybecause he needed human contact but his only companionwas his dog which was killed. Loneliness bear upon manycharacters in John Steinbecks novel, Of Mice and Men.Crooks, Curleys wife and Candy were affected the most bythis loneliness because none of them had a real companionand all of them had dreams which were shattered.