Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The novel Of Mice and Men is set during the great depression. John Steinbeck uses loneliness as the major theme of the story. The author was trying to tell the American public that the lifestyle of everyone during the era was lonely. Loneliness can mean that they got no friends or company to share their feelings. Almost everyone during the era was in a great depression; with a large amount of unemployment makes people as the loneliest man in the world. Of Mice and Men is mainly about loneliness towards most of the characters. George and his best friend Lennie, who has the mentality of a child. Their friendship is very strong. However both characters are lonely, George had promised to take care of Lennie when his last relative, aunt Clara, passes away. George once said to Lennie that “guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place”(Steinback 15). They have a dream to own their own land and they work for their dream.

he is mentioned as a black migrant worker. Crooks loneliness and isolation is because that he is the only black man on the ranch, who got nobody to talk to. He is separated from other migrant workers that he lives near the barn unlike other workers those lives in the bunkhouse. We still see a discriminated society as Steinbeck used crooks as the African American man in the novel. For example, when Lennie came into crooks room, he states that “you got no right to come in my room. This here’s is my room. nobody got any right in here but me”(4). He is isolated because of his skin color, he’s been alone for a long time and doesn't even want to make friends. Crooks also has his dream like every other migrant workers dream was to have their own land one