Isolation In Of Mice And Men

In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men Steinbeck describes the lonely life of migrant workers going from farm to farm. These workers go from farm to farm surviving with nothing except themselves and their dreams of a better life/ While the protagonists of the novel are close friends, most of these migrant workers are quite lonely and are without a friend to lean on when times get hard. Steinbeck explores this isolation as one of the major themes in Of Mice and Men through two stereotypes that were arguably the most discriminated against during this time: the black male, symbolized by the stable buck, Crooks, and the depression-era female, symbolized by the attention-seeking woman, Curley’s wife. Crooks is isolated mainly because of being a black man, but his race causes him to think that he is absolutely isolated and he almost intentionally isolates himself, but his isolation is not always a bad thing for him. His skin color limits his socializing because he is not

In Crooks’ corner, the reader sees an isolated man come out of his shell to protect not only his newfound friends, but also to protect the idea of a life where he is no longer alone. Crooks breather some courageous air and faces Curley’s wife after she attempts to bully Lennie into admitting he crippled Curley: “’I had enough,’ he said coldly. ‘You got no right comin’ in a colored man’s room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus’ get out, and get out quick’”(78). Curley’s wide, desperate not to lose to Crooks in this battle of isolation, hits Crooks with the “ol’ one-two” (76) that Curley never could: “’Well you keep your place then Nigger. I could get you string up a tree so easy it ain’t even funny’” (79). In the end there is no victor. Crooks sinks back into his isolated identity and Curley’s wife leaves, as alone as she was when she entered the