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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Loneliness is a significant concept that Steinbeck implements within the novel Of Mice and Men. The author achieves this by isolating most of the characters within the novel and including that the concept of companionship is foreign to them. In fact, through the development of his characters as the story progresses, a reader can deduce that this theme latches on to even secondary characters like Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife. With Crooks being the black stable hand, Candy, the old one-handed ranch worker, and Curley’s wife acquiring names of “jailbait”, “tramp”, or any other derogatory name that the male workers come up with, they all have their own obstacles to navigate before they can fight their loneliness. George and Lennie come to this ranch in Soledad in search for a new job that’ll get them closer to their …show more content…

Crooks at first isn’t introduced by name, in actuality the reader only gets to acknowledge that he’s a character through Candy’s words to George when he says “...he gives the stable buck hell” (Steinbeck 19) and “Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger” (Steinbeck 20). From this introduction, the audience can conclude that Crooks’ obstacle is his race, and during times like these in the ranch in the middle of nowhere, where you’d expect race to be less of a problem, it happens not to pan out that way. When Lennie enters Crooks’ room, we’re given a more indepth description of Crooks’ character. He keeps his room neat, and he owns many books and magazines. A person’s room tells a lot about their

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When the word friendship pops in your head what do you think? You probably think of a person or a pet. In the novel, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, many of the characters are isolated from the real world and are lonely. Crooks, who is an African American stable buck, is discriminated because of the color of his skin. Crooks isn’t allowed to go into the bunkhouse with the other guys, he isn’t allowed to play cards with them either.

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Aireyana Sharp Ms. Bowen December , 2017 7* Title The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck each character has their own set of problems relating to the Depression. It could be there race, gender, disability or loneliness.

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In this novella, “Of Mice and Men”, written during the Great Depression, takes place in Soledad, California, and also the Salinas River. This story shows the life of laborers at this time that had to move from farm to farm, with low pay, just to make a living for themselves. The protagonists; Lennie and George travel together for work, which is not common for men at this time, and they depend on each other. Even though it is not directly mentioned it is inferred that Lennie is cognitively impaired, which explains why he needs George to assist him. As they go to work on this ranch in Soledad, Lennie makes trouble with the boss’s son Curley, which later became more intense when Lennie kills Curley’s wife.

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In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, he writes about two men one named Lennie and one named George having a dream, but is ruined through the troubles of Lennie 's doings. This book was written in the 1930’s talking about migrant workers and how they survived through that era. In that era all migrant workers preferably work alone, but with George and Lennie they stick together because Lennie is a more challenged person so he doesn 't know his wrong doings which causes lots of trouble for George. On page 94, one of the most significant passages is written on having a dialogue between George and Candy about how they were unable to get the farm because Lennie had ruined their chances of getting it. Steinbeck creates a motif of loneliness through the different characters he writes about, ties in different strands of the story to make one storyline, and foreshadows events to come.

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Loneliness and Alienation in “Of Mice and Men” In John Steinbeck’s novel, “Of Mice and Men”, many characters were plagued with loneliness and alienation, and most characters were in need of acceptance. The harsh time period of the Great Depression affected three characters in, “Of Mice and Men” greatly. Three characters that are plagued by loneliness and alienation and are in need of acceptance the most include George Milton; the protagonist of the novel, Crooks; the negro stable buck with a crooked back, and Curley’s wife; a young woman who just wants somebody to talk to. In this essay, you will learn why George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife were the loneliest and why other characters were not plagued with loneliness and alienation as much as these three characters. George Milton is the protagonist of the novel.

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We all may have had the feeling of loneliness and isolation, wanting companionship feeling abandonment. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, there are men living on a ranch having their own reasons for loneliness or being isolated. The three characters Crooks, George, and Lennie crusade dealing with own ways of loneliness and isolation. Crooks has no one that likes him because he’s black, Lennie struggles mentally and George struggles with always having to care for him. They all can’t decide whether it is that they want to be alone or not.

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Loneliness, in accordance with the dictionary is a complex and usually unpleasant emotional response to isolation or lack of companionship. However, it doesn’t always work like that, human beings can be lonely even when surrounded by other people, specifically if said other people cannot relate to or communicate effectively with the subject. In this way, many people can be lonely but not even seem lonely and that in itself is dreadful. Loneliness is dark bottomless hole that is just too easy to fall into and disappear forever. Steinbeck though, used this tactic of despair and sentenced the majority of his characters to life with it in his novel, Of Mice and Men.

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"I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick" (Steinbeck, 73) said Crooks. During the Great Depression, many migrant workers experienced this first hand. In John Steinbeck's book Of Mice and Men, many characters also experience this feeling. Of Mice and Men tells the story of George and Lennie, two migrant workers who travel to Soledad to work on a new farm. In John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, the idea that loneliness brings out the worst in people is shown through the characters of Crooks, Curley's wife, and Candy.

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Lonely Characters in Of Mice And Men Imagine a world where people didn’t really care what one said to another, and neither cared enough to ask each other questions. A place where everyone existed in silence, but were together at the same time. As portrayed in the novel, Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, in which Steinbeck’s idea of loneliness is isolation in silences. The author teaches the reader that friendship is mostly about conversation, and magnifies the effects of isolation through the eyes of Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy.

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Humans often ostracize others, leading them to be lonely. This is seen in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, where the characters are often lonely. The loneliness is often caused by things which are out of the characters control. This essay will demonstrate this by examining Crooks, Curley's wife, and Lennie. First character crooks is lonely due to the color of his skin.

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In the story “Of Mice and Men” loneliness is a major part of the story. At least once in the story, someone will become lonely. He illustrates that in order to escape loneliness, people are driven to find a friend. He uses names such as “Soledad”, the name of the ranch, which means loneliness, and the card game that is played by the characters “Solitaire” which means by one’s self. He makes it really clear that the people on the ranch are lonely.

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1125 Words | 5 Pages

Loneliness and isolation is an ongoing theme throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, experienced by several characters to different degrees. Some characters are more isolated and lonely than others, yet every character in the story goes through this theme during one point in the story. There are various reasons why each character is lonely or isolated. In general, all the ranch workers feel some sort of loneliness because they move alone from ranch to ranch and do not have real connections with others, Curley’s wife experiences this theme because she is the only woman on the ranch and nobody wants to interact with her because Curley is very protective and hostile of her. Thirdly, Candy struggles through being lonely and isolated after Carlson shot his dog and because Candy does not work with the others since he is a swamper.

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860 Words | 4 Pages

A key aspect of any novel or story is the way the characters interact and feel towards everything. In John Steinbeck’s, “Of Mice and Men”, the characters tend to give off the effect of loneliness and the feeling of isolation throughout the novel. The main characters that give off the effect of loneliness and the feeling of isolation are Curley’s wife, Crooks, and George. They’ve been truly alone, if not in mind then in body.

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701 Words | 3 Pages

Crooks later goes on a rant about how he’s practically alone most of the day, all because of his race. He took a sense of maligned humor in seeing Lennie’s despair about the possibility of losing George, along a mentality of “If I can’t have it, then

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Crooks is a black man who isn’t allowed to be in the house with all the men. The men won’t allow him to come in because of his color. Crooks is lonely and he doesn’t bother the men. One night Lennie came in and was talking to Crooks and telling them about the farm that they were going to get. For once Crooks thought well maybe I won’t be lonely I could go with them and don’t have worry about none of them.

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