Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Secondly, In this novella men find a way to isolate themself and eventually cause them loneliness. Another reason why man sharing a bunker together can be lonely is because of fear. Men can become so scared of each other they can force themselves into isolation. The reason these men carry so much fear is, they are scared to lose independence, the fear of being rejected, and losing masculinity. Generally speaking men are so scared to bruise their independence. Independance is something everyone is capable of, it is when you can do everything on your own and do not need to rely on anyone. Slim makes a really good point about how "’Ain't many guys travel around together,’ he mused. ‘I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is …show more content…

Another barrier between these men and happiness is that, most of them are scared to be rejected. In the novella Lennie tries to make friend with a man named Crooks, when all the guys are out at cat houses and bars. Crooks immediately shuts down Lennie in fear of Lennie doing is first. Lennie curiously walks into Crooks room in the barn because he sees a light. Lennie does not understand the controversy surrounding coloured people at the time, but Crooks immediately snaps since he has a “right to have a light”(68). Crooks thinks Lennie, who is by the way, a big guy is out to get him like every other guy. He then says, “You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk house, and you ain’t wanted in my room.” (68) Disite him saying this he does not do anything further to get him out, Crooks actually enjoys the company more than anything he is just scared to be rejected by Lennie. In addition to fears causing loneliness and isolation, another fear is losing masculinity. Many characters in the book struggle with this, as all the characters, except one is a male. This is when a man is scared to show things like affection or certain respect in fear of losing his possession of being a