Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the novella Of Mice and Men, loneliness is one of the main themes in the story. Many of the characters in the story live alone and try to find someone who they can trust to be their companion or audience. Crooks and Curley’s Wife are two examples of these characters. Crooks, the negro stable buck on the ranch, lives by himself separate from all the other workers. He has a crooked back and he is abused by the owner of the ranch. Crooks is lonely because no one wants to talk to him due to his race. “‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me.’” (Steinbeck 68). One day, Lennie goes to his place and Crooks tells him to leave. He says, “‘You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room.’” (Steinbeck 68). At first, Crooks was mad that Lennie was in his room, but then he softened when he realized that Lennie was not there to judge his race, but just to look at his puppy.

Different from Crooks, Curley’s Wife doesn’t push people away, but she tries to get their attention by flirting with them. The name her character was given in the story symbolizes that she is not important and she will always be known as Curley’s Wife, not by her real name. The first time Lennie and George meet her, Lennie is drawn to her and thinks she was pretty. Later, Curley’s Wife said to Lennie that she is lonely and she needs someone to talk to. “‘I get lonely,’ she said. ‘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?’” (Steinbeck 87). Curley’s Wife has no one to talk to except Curley, who she doesn’t like because “He ain’t a nice