Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck lived through the Great Depression, so he wrote about it. The Great Depression started in 1929, when the stock market crashed. Money was scarce. At the beginning of this time, came the Dust Bowl. There was no rain out west and that created dust tornados. People had to travel from farm to farm just to feed themselves. These people were Migrant Farm Workers. All of this is in John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, symbolized by loneliness. In his novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife to prove people will do desperate things to avoid being lonely. First, Steinbeck uses Candy to contribute to the theme of people doing desperate things to avoid being lonely. Candy is a janitor at the ranch where

Nobody calls her by her name, they just call her Curley’s Wife. She is property. Curley’s Wife flirts with all the guys because she does not like her husband and does not want to be lonely. She walks into the barn one day while Lennie was in there. The rest of the guys were outside playing horseshoes. Lennie was told not to talk to Curley’s Wife because it would get him in trouble. Curley’s Wife told lennie, “Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely” (Steinbeck 86). Curley’s Wife is only allowed to talk to her husband, so she gets lonely not having anybody else to talk to. She does not even like talking to her husband because all he talks about is fighting someone. Lennie is still worried about getting in trouble from talking to Curley’s Wife so she says to him, “Don’t you worry about talkin’ to me. Listen to the guys yell out there… None of them ain’t gonna leave till it’s over” (Steinbeck 87). That quote shows what Curley’s Wife will do anything to not be lonely. She will risk getting in big trouble just to have someone to talk to. Steinbeck uses Curley’s Wife to contribute to the idea of people do desperate things to avoid being