Loneliness is a feeling that every person feels and to combat the feeling of being lonely people turn trods companionship. The novel, "Of Mice and Men," conveys the story of loneliness in many different ways. Steinbeck constructs the theme of loneliness throughout the story “Of Mice and Men” by showing how Crooks is made to live by himself in the barn, Curley’s wife has no one to talk to, and without Lennie around George would be by himself. What keeps people together is the desire for companionship and not to be alone in this world. Crooks is an African-American stable buck that is physically and socially isolated on the ranch. He was forced to live alone in the barn because he is black and isolated from all the other workers. When Lennie enters Crook's room in search of company, Crook is initially saddened by his intrusion but eventually reveals his loneliness "S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you was black" (Steinbeck 71). This shows how the disruption caused by society isolates Crooks from a lonely life and prevents him from finding his place in the social activities of others. One other way of …show more content…
The two of them working together and traveling together means that there is always someone looking out for the other “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after, and that’s why” (Steinbeck 14). George not only was to look at for himself but for Lennie as well and he will always have someone to be around. Most men that work on ranches tend to be by themselves with no company but when George says “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place…With us it ain’t like that” (Steinbeck 13). The two aren’t like the other men and if it wasn’t for Lennie George would be off doing things in life that weren’t the best and be all