Theme Of Loneliness

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Pages: 4

“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 a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.” (72) Loneliness is an important theme in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. A multitude of characters struggle with it- one could even say that every single character faces loneliness in some shape or form. A character who exhibits loneliness and a crazy desperation for companionship is Curley’s Wife. She lost her life in her quest to just have a friend. Her death was caused by ignorance and prejudice from those around her, it could’ve been easily prevented. Had Curley’s Wife just been given a chance to show her husband that she could be trusted to talk to the ranchers with no bad intentions, …show more content…
She was isolated and treated terribly by the ranchers, making her angry and bitter- only causing the ranchers to dislike her further.Being the only woman around, they saw her as a threat because she was different. Their egos told them that her attempts to socialize had hidden intentions and anything she said came across as promiscuous. The only man on the ranch who wasn’t rude and condescending to her was Lennie. We know she was aware of Lennie’s strength, and of the fact that he broke her husband’s hand- she refers to him as a machine in Crooks’ room- so she shouldn’t have a reason or desire to go anywhere near him. However, her need for someone to talk to- someone who would actually have somewhat of a conversation with her- pulled too strong and sent her into the barn where she knew he was alone. Lennie did speak to her and she was too caught up in finally having a friend to realize that the same thing that happened to Curley’s hand could happen to her head if she let him touch her hair. If she hadn’t been so lonely, she wouldn't have been so reckless and could've kept herself out of