Themes of Lonliness in "Of Mice and Men"
Themes of Lonliness in "Of Mice and Men"
Universally, loneliness is a theme that many authors across the world present in the novels. In John Steinbeck's, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck offers many instances in which characters feel alone. Loneliness is defined as standing apart from others of its kind. Steinbeck gives perfect examples with his characters of loneliness. Many of his characters are considered lonely, but two specifically.
Crooks is a hunchbacked black man who’s discriminated against. He is commonly referred to as the stable buck and a nigger. " I ain't been wanted in the bunkhouse... They play cards there; I can't play because I'm black." (68) Because he is the only black man on the ranch, he is forced to live alone in a shed of the barn, and no one will have any interaction with him. The ranch workers seem to discriminate against many different types of people. Blacks are one of the discriminative races of all throughout the novel. They treat Crooks terribly. Crooks seemed depressed because he feels black and white people could never be friends. He fills his time by reading books. The loneliest character in the novel is Crooks.
Another very lonely character in Of Mice and Men is Curley's wife. She also voices her loneliness. "I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." (84) You can easily tell how flustered she is. She would much rather be starring in movies. She is the only woman on the ranch and is discriminated against. They feel she is not important enough to have a name. Curley's wife is very provocative and tries to seduce Lennie. All he sees her as is something soft. Curley's wife was a nice person, meant no evil, although she causes problems.
Curley's wife and Crooks are both loners. Although they are both lonely in two different ways. They are similar because they're both discriminated against. Curley's wife is discriminated against because of her gender and Crooks is discriminated against because of the color of his skin. Those are the main contrasts in the loneliness between Curley's wife and Crooks. Crooks liked to keep to himself most of the time, as Curley's wife was dying to socialize with any man on the ranch that she could....