John Steinbeck's Loneliness

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Loneliness in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men
When humans are denied companionship and are subject to loneliness, they are also deprived of their strength to deal with problems appropriately. Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck about a ranch with migrant workers who are all overcome by loneliness. Loneliness can be due to visible differences, gender differences, and also emotional barriers. It can cause people’s natural instincts to become repressed, leading them to become very suspicious of others. People are driven to try and find companionship in order to escape from loneliness, because loneliness can otherwise fuel mistrust, and can lead to tragedy.
Crooks and Curley’s wife are lonely, and they are both desperate for some sort of escape from their isolation. The novel …show more content…
In the novella, Steinbeck presents Crooks as an extremely lonesome figure. He is discriminated against by all the men on the ranch because of his skin color, and is forbidden to live in the bunkhouse with the rest of the men. He is forced to live in the harness room next to the barn. When describing his living quarters, Steinbeck uses the phrase “a small electric globe threw a meager yellow light” (Steinbeck 67). The globe connotes the world, as if Crooks is attempting to create his own universe to free himself from his isolation. The ‘meagre’ light encourages pity from the readers for his powerless attempts to construct a better life for himself and find a place in the world. Steinbeck also says that Crooks’ bunk was “a long box filled with straw” (Steinbeck 66). The box is used to connote a coffin, and shows how Crooks meant nothing to nobody, as if he weren’t alive at all. The use of this connotation reinforces the idea of Crooks being utterly alone, and having no one to care for him. Another character affected by loneliness is Curley’s wife. She is the
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