Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Words: 399
Pages: 2

The human mind, for all its complexity, was not made to be alone. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, he writes a tale of how loneliness affects human behavior. The novel is about two men, George and Lennie, and the people they meet working as ranch hands. Loneliness and fear of isolation is a common theme throughout the book, but it is most heavily represented by the behaviors of Crooks and Curley’s wife.

Crooks is a prideful, handicapped, black worker on the ranch. Steinbeck represents him as loneliness because he is segregated from all the workers by his race. In Crooks’ own words, he says, “Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him.” This shows that even though he tries to handle the isolation on his own with books,