Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

As stated by Mother Teresa,”Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” Within Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck develops the theme of loneliness. John Steinbeck develops the theme of loneliness by showing it to us through three characters. The theme shows that human nature affects many people in different ways. Steinbeck shows us how loneliness can affect a person and how it has developed within the characters and shaped them. Crooks, Curley’s wife and Lennie were the three characters developed for us by John Steinbeck. Within the novella Crooks is shown bitter and angry because he is lonely. When Lennie approaches Crook’s room he explains that he is lonely because no one will interact with him. “’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.” Crooks being denied the ability to play with all the other men has made him lonely. When people are

Curley’s wife has no one to talk to and no one ever wants to talk to her, which is why she had become a tart. She reveals she is always lonely and never has anyone to talk to, “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” No one would ever talk to Curley’s wife because she was a woman and she was not respected, causing her to become lonely and angry. Curley’s wife is aslo restricted from talking to anyone because of Curley himself. Curley does not let his wife speak to anyone because she is his. Lennie is told this while in the barn, “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?” Curley’s restriction on his wife’s social life has caused her to be angry and do the one thing she can to talk to people, be a tart. Curley’s wife mirrors today's society in doing whatever is possible to talk to people and be social, rather than be