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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Isolation Loneliness is a way of life. Everyone is lonely once in a while. In John Steinbeck's powerful American masterpiece Of Mice and Men, the main characters George and Lennie have to move along to a new ranch for work after Lennie had lost control of himself and scared one of the women there. Many characters in the novel are isolated and openly discuss their feelings of loneliness openly. First and foremost, Lennie feels lonely because he is not able to interact with everyone else due to his childlike mind. While George and Lennie are having an argument, Lennie says, “If you don' want me I can g off in the hills an' find a cave. I can go away any time."(Steinbeck, 12) Lennie feels as, if not even George wants to be around him anymore and offers to leave him alone and get out of his way. Lennie can only hold a real conversation with George due to his disability, but he feels like he is only a burden to George. …show more content…

While Candy is in Crooks’ room for the first time, Crooks says, “Guys don't come into a colored man's room very much.” (Steinbeck, 75) Crooks lives by himself for the reason that he is a different race than everyone on the ranch. He is so accustomed to being in isolation that he suspicious at “new friends” and ends up pushing them away. Also, with his back injury, he is discriminated in more than one way. He is now discriminated by his race and the fact that he cannot work due to his injury, therefore he is denied the opportunity for personal contact with the other ranch

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The Need To Belong: The Lonely Trails As two men, George and Lennie, travel to find work during the times of dusty vegetable fields of Soledad California, they hope to someday own the ranch of their dreams. Upon their adventures in Soledad, they cling onto their only asset in this time: each other. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men conveys the emotions of loneliness and isolation through the novel of the men's journey. People surrounding Lennie and George such as Curley's wife, Crooks, and Candy are able to exhibit the need to belong to something more, something more then the loneliness they live through.

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Many of the characters in Of Mice and Men were isolated or alone. The three characters I chose were Crooks, Candy, and Slim. Crooks is a african american stable buck, Candy is a swamper, and Curley's wife. The people I chose are either isolated or don’t talk about their life. Steinbeck uses loneliness to give us a better message.

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In the graphic novel, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang describes the life of an Asian American and how the petty stereotypes affect them. The main character’s cousin, Chin-kee, is supposed to show the readers what Asian stereotypes are and how people present it to others. In the graphic novel, Chin-kee always said stuff that was offensive to other Asians or Asian Americans, like “cat and noodle soup”. Chin-kee symbolizes Asian stereotypes in America. After the story of the Monkey God, Chin-kee was introduced as the Stereotypical Chinese man in America.

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Steinbeck displays through the dialogue and characterizations that these characters experience isolation because of both social barriers and personal choice. Crooks being an African-American on the ranch, full of whites, struggles racially which causes his withdrawal from the society. Crooks explains to Lennie his when he’s accompanied by him “ A guy goes nuts if he ain 't got nobody. Don 't make no difference who the guy is long’s

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His absence of true friendship is the driving factor that caused his loneliness. Just as in the book, George sees as a liability, and is obligated to care for Lennie. Their relationship is more father and son, that it is a friend relationship. At every step of the way George has to care for Lennie,this drives George mad. George wishes he could have a life without Lennie’s treacherous actions and cognitive issues.

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Loneliness is around the world. Loneliness is in the story. George and Lennie depended on each other for the story. Lennie character sticked out to me. Without George, Lennie would be lonely.

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First, loneliness is the sadness caused by having no friends or company, and friendship is a state of mutual trust and support between people, they are polar opposites, yet a person may acclaim to have both. For example today a person may have a friend, or many, but still will face loneliness in their life in one way or another. This is shown in Of Mice and Men periodically throughout the novel, knowing this the reader is challenged with such themes, the enticing beauty of friendship between George and Lennie, and the gloomy dreaded idea of loneliness shown by Curley’s wife, Candy, Crooks, and again Lennie. Among these characters the reader may also feel a connection between themselves and the characters, even though the world now and during the publication of Of Mice and Men has changed a lot. The world has reformed, and developed exponentially so, however friendship and loneliness is still a facet of everyday

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Because of Crooks’ race, readers know that he has faced many years of isolation and discrimination. Crooks’ race causes him to be isolated from all the other men on the farm. “Crooks...had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn” (66). Crooks is kept from being able to talk, hang around, and sleep in the same place as the other men just because of his race. Crooks is also left by himself and can’t play games with the other men since he’s black.

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“Want me to tell you what’ll happen? They’ll take you to a booby hatch. They’ll tie you up with a collar, like a dog” (Steinbeck 72). In the 1930’s discrimination was a powerful tool used to hide the users own loneliness and pain of travelling alone. During the Great Depression many ranch hands travelled alone in search for work.

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Throughout the novella ‘Of mice and men,’ the characters are able to be sympathized by the reader through various techniques that John Steinbeck uses. While some of the characters are not as likable, events and speeches from various characters help influence the readers understanding towards their motives and the pain and grief they experience. Steinbeck presents Crooks as one with a physical handicap and shows how he is discriminated against and forced to live on the periphery of the ranch life. In section 4 Crooks admits to the exact loneliness that George describes to Lennie at the beginning of the novella in the passage he displays vulnerability and desperation towards having no companion ‘He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if

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Did you know that we as a whole judge many people just because of how they look? In the novella Of Mice and Men, it shows how the characters judge Curley’s wife because of how she is. This can be seen throughout the movie and the novella. Do you consider this an act of lust that she desires or is she just lonely and just wants attention from others? John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men explores the deep sense of loneliness and isolation, brought to life through the compelling portrayals of Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife.

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The loudest places are the loneliest of them all. Similar to the town of solitude, despite the characters being surrounded by people, there is no trust and connection between them. As Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife desperately battles their enforced loneliness from discrimination and prejudice, it reiterates Steinbeck’s message of how loneliness is inevitable as society is full of prejudice and inequality. It also highlights the utmost significance of companionship and how it helps people go through harsh times, knowing that there is always someone there to support them and watch out for them.

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“I never get to talk to no-body, I get awful lonely”. Crooks experiences the isolation and lack of companionship more than anyone else as he is forced to live alone on the other side of the ranch so no one has to have any interaction with him. For example even when the ranchers come to play cards in the barn, he is not permitted to join in or converse with any of them just because he has different color skin. Clearly during the 1930’s the black people were seen as inferior to the white people and Steinbeck demonstrates this throughout this novel by showing the difficulties his character Crooks

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Some have felt like they're in their own bubble and can't seem to get out, or are in a dark, narrow space and have no savior. Each person in humanity are like one in a million stars in the night sky, and some of these stars can create constellations, and others cannot. This here is something called loneliness, and everyone has experienced this feeling at some point in their lives. In this current society, people are judged by what colour they are, or what disabilities they have, and even how many possessions they own. Society today, more and more people are being placed into that dark, narrow room of loneliness.

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