Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Words: 1203
Pages: 5

Loneliness is a cruel punishment that is imposed on those who are thought of as different. One is exiled in the efforts to “protect” others. The consequences of that action are unbearable. Lonesome nights and quiet days, awaiting for a small chance that someone will acknowledge their existence. Kindness and affection can make a madman sane. And loneliness can do quite the opposite. Within this novel we see characters such as Crooks, Curley's wife, and Lennie that are all exiled because they are different from the other people that lived on the farm. “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, he cried, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he get’s sick”(Steinbeck 35). “cause I’m black. They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stick. Well I tell you, you all of you stink to me”(Steinbeck 35). “I get lonely, she said. You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like to talk to nobody”(Steinbeck 42). “Lennie said miserably, George wun’t go away and leave me. I know George wun’t do that”(Steinbeck 35). …show more content…
This story was based around the concept of loneliness and alienation that was represented based on gender, race, age, poverty or disability. Some of the main character were Lennie Smalls, George Milton, and Candy, they were prevalent to the plot. The setting of this novel was located on a ranch in Soledad, California. Major interactions occurred within the bunkhouse, the barn, Crook’s room, and finally the riverbed. Each of these locations had an important event take place. In the duration of this novel one sees how miscommunications affected the livelihood of the people on the ranch. This is due to the barriers that are in place to keep people