Of Mice And Men Isolation Essay

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“The worst cruelty that can be inflicted on a human being is isolation” -Sukarno. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck includes many different themes. One of the most prominent themes used in this book is that people are isolated from one another, or are lonely. Isolation can be seen in this book through the concepts of racism, sexism, and the ranch workers traveling alone. The idea of isolation as a cause of racism is demonstrated through the character Crooks. Crooks is the stable buck, a black man who works in the stable, and is also the only black man that lives on the ranch. He is forced to live in separate quarters inside the stable simply because of the color of his skin, and isn’t allowed in the bunk room where all the other ranch workers stay. Since Crooks has his own room he is extremely lonely and isolated …show more content…
At the beginning of the book George and Lennie come to the ranch together; all the men at the ranch find it weird that the pair travels with each other. This demonstrates how unheard of it is to travel with someone when looking for work. Since all of the men travel by themselves they never get the chance to create a deep bond with another person causing them to all be lonely. “Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place.” (15). The character Candy’s, an old man with one hand, only companion is his dog; who ends up getting shot because he is old smelly. Candy then too becomes isolated like the rest of the men that live on the ranch. Even George is forced to become isolated and lonely when he kills Lennie.
Overall the theme of isolation is seen in the book Of Mice and Men through racism, sexism, and ranch workers travelling alone. The theme of this book connects with every character some shape or form. This shows that everyone has the tiniest piece of loneliness within