Exploring Loneliness in “Of Mice and Men”: Curley’s Wife, Candy, and Crooks

Loneliness Portrayed in “Of Mice and Men”

Loneliness is spreading all around the world, and many people can’t have any choices. Imagine living the life without anyone. People don’t talk to you. So everyone should have someone to be by their side and give them support. In the novel Of Mice And Men, the author John Steinbeck writes about the character’s loneliness. Loneliness is a common theme in the novel, as demonstrated by Curley’s wife, Crooks, Candy.

The Isolation of Curley’s Wife

Curley’s better half is the main lady on the farm and has nobody who will converse with her-including her significant other. Her sexuality separates her from the other characters. She is exhausted and forlorn, yet her endeavor to draw in the consideration of the men on the farm just serves to push them far from her. She has effectively abandoned her fantasies of a better life as a motion picture star and seems to hang her expectations on any man who will tune in, “You know what I can do if you open your trap” (Steinbeck 80), Curley’s wife asks crooks if you help me I could do something else.

Candy’s Desperate Isolation

Candy’s treat is confined in that after the loss of his hand, he can’t work close to the other men and is diminished to the part of a swamper. When his pooch has been shot, Sweet has little else to live for and is frantically forlorn. He is urgently desolate. He is feeble and apprehensive without bounds. He doesn’t go into town with the other men and sees the incorporation in George and Lennie’s fantasy as the main way out, “We’ll fix up the little old place, and then we’ll go live there” (60) in this quote candy talks about he wants to live with George because he feels loneliness.

Crooks’ Segregation and Yearning for Connection

Crooks convicts is detached as a result of his race, his inability, and his profound question of others. He is physically isolated from the other men and has his own room in the stable. His warped back implies that, like Sweet, he has constrained social or work contact with other men as he tends steeds. His depression compels him to submit when Lennie tries to converse with him. Hooligans pull back his demand to be a piece of Lennie and George’s fantasy after Curley’s better half places him in his place. His justifiable doubts and dread about others treat him return, and he can’t see past the bias he has constantly experienced, “‘well s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then? (71) In this quote, Crooks wants Lennie to join him.

Conclusion:

To summarize, the characters in the novel Mice And Men are lonely. As Curley’s wife, no one talks to her just because she is a woman. For candy, his dog got shot, and he has a broken hand. Crooks was back, so people were resisting him. So that’s why characters in Mice And Men are lonely.

References:

1. Steinbeck, John. “Of Mice and Men.” Penguin Books, 1993.
2. Ditsky, John. “John Steinbeck and the Psychology of Loneliness.” Steinbeck Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 03-04, 1995, pp. 71-83.
3. Gregg, John R. “The Loneliness of ‘Of Mice and Men’.” The English Journal, vol. 39, no. 5, 1950, pp. 275-282.
4. Heintzman, Ralph P. “Candy’s Dog: Symbol of Fading Dreams.” Steinbeck Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 01-02, 1994, pp. 21-26.
5. Sweeney, Susan Elizabeth. “Racial Discrimination and Alienation in Of Mice and Men.” Critical Insights: Of Mice and Men, edited by Donald R. Noble, Salem Press, 2013, pp. 131-143.
6. Edwards, Thomas R. “Sexual Politics in ‘Of Mice and Men’.” Modern Language Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, 1980, pp. 17-27.