Loneliness in of Mice and Men

Loneliness is a feeling that many people have had to deal no matter who they are. A person does not have to be alone to feel lonely. Most people who are lonely have people

around them who care about them, but they do not feel like they do. Of Mice and Men has

very good examples of loneliness. The best examples are Curley’s wife and Crooks because

they are both physically and mentally lonely. One other example of loneliness is Lennie and how his disability makes him mentally lonely. Many people in Of Mice and Men are lonely whether they show it or not, so the main theme of, Of Mice and Men was loneliness.

The person that shows their loneliness the most in this novella is Curley’s Wife. She

tries to do everything she can to make friends with any of the guys even if that means she has

to act like a little bit of a “tart”. She eventually gets to talk to Lennie all alone in the barn and she explains her story of how lonely she really is. Her mom kept stopping her from getting a good job so she married Curley to get out of her mother's house. Even though she did not

love him she acted like she did and moved in with him. With him not loving her and her not loving him her house was lonely for her and whenever she tried to talk to the guys they

would always say something smart or just ignore her. Though when she got Lennie alone

she spilled everything and tried to be friends with him and by doing this Lennie got a little to aggressive and accidentally killed her. Therefore her loneliness killed her.

The next person in the novella that shows their loneliness the most is Crooks. Even though he does not show it too much he really showed it when Lennie came into the barn

and started talking to him. He explained how when he grew up how him and his family

were close, but now they are separated. Also, he asks Lennie how he would feel if George

never came back trying to make him feel the pain he has. Lennie didn’t understand and got

mad so crooks stopped trying to explain. Another reason Crooks felt lonely is because the

time setting of this book is during the great depression and he is a black man so he has to

sleep in the barn and he is allowed to do nothing with the white men. He’s also the only

black guy on the ranch in Soledad, so he really is all alone.

One other person who may feel alone in this novella is Lennie. He does not show it much, but there are some points when it may show through. Like whenever George got