Of Mice And Men Theme Of Loneliness

Loneliness is a recurring theme throughout Of Mice and Men. The story is filled with many characters who cannot escape their lonely lives. Each of them desire a close friend, but it is not always possible for them to find a close companion. To elaborate, Curley’s wife is misunderstood, Crooks faces racial discrimination, and Candy does not fit in and has lost things that are important to him. Each of these characters are constantly surrounded by people on the ranch, however, they still remain emotionally isolated. The primary source of loneliness in the book comes from the setting. In Of Mice and Men, the author depicts the feeling of loneliness of life on a ranch in the 1930s. Steinback illustrates how Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife are in need of companionship and validation. Crooks is a character in Of Mice and Men who suffers from loneliness throughout the entire book. Crooks is a 1930s African American man laboring on a ranch with terrible back problems at a period when white men were superior. He is often discriminated against and called names by workers on the ranch for his skin color. Because of his loneliness, his isolation makes him bitter

Curley’s Wife is the only woman on the ranch and she suffers from emotional abuse. Ever since she married Curley she has had no freedom to speak to anyone on the ranch without Curley’s permission resulting in her being emotionally trapped. White males were superior to women in the 1930s, thus they were not treated equally which is similar to Crooks' situation. Being lonely makes her develop a flirtatious personality toward the ranch workers, resulting in her death. When George and Lennie first interact with Curley’s Wife, George did not hesitate in the slightest to call her offensive names. He even made sure to warn Lennie not to talk to her. These examples show that Curley’s Wife is another character who suffers from