How Does Steinbeck Present Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck exhibits a solitary motif conveying incapable loneliness throughout the book. Complex characterization is used by Steinbeck to distinctly illustrate loneliness and solitaire. In particular, loneliness is portrayed through one of the ranchmen, Candy who owns a dog. The dog seems meaningless, the ranch men couldn't comprehend a logical reason to keep it, ultimately Candy gave in and let Carlson kill his dog, “A shot sounded in the distance. The men looked quickly at the old man. Every head turned toward him. For a minute he continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and layed silent”(49). At that moment Candy became just like the others, alone. This quote shows Candy's exact

Curley's wife was married to Curley, though she still sought companionship and attention from others due to the lack of attention from her husband, “I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (87). Curley's wife seems very basic in the beginning but the further into the story the more complex she gets. This moment was used to deepen our understanding of her frustration and agony due to the 1 sided relationship she's trapped in making her feel misunderstood and lonely. In addition, Steinbeck also used characterization in the character Crooks. Crooks lives alone in the stable, away from the other ranchmen because of his race, No one came by him and he couldn't go by anyone until Lennie wandered into his room, “Crooks said sharply, "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me”(68). The quote shows how Crooks expresses his solitaire and loneliness by pushing people away and alienating himself. Later we learn about his past and can presume the reason for his acting this way is because this is what he was taught, always being separated from everyone else and