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Theme Of Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

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Written by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men is an American literature book set in the era of the Great Depression. Mainly revolving around the characters George and Lennie, it explores themes such as the American Dream. On the other hand, it expresses this theme through the loneliest of characters. According to Paul Tillich, “loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone.” Everyone has experienced the feeling of being lonely in life, yet who is the loneliest character in Of Mice and Men? Out of all the characters, Crooks is the loneliest because he is constantly discriminated against, forcefully isolated, and not respected. To begin with, Crooks is the loneliest character in Of Mice and Men because …show more content…
While both Candy and Curley’s wife can easily isolate themselves by choice, Crooks is the complete opposite. Curley’s wife makes it clear that it was her decision to move away from home, claiming, “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters. I ast her if she stole it, too, an’ she says no. So I married Curley” (88). On the contrary, Crooks is forcefully isolated by the others on the farm, leaving him to have no one but his books. In the text, he explains “S’pose you didn’t have nobody… How’d you like thta? S’pose you had to sit out here an’ read books… books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody -- to be near him… 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” (72-73). Receiving information from Crooks perspective, it is clear that he feels extremely alone and isolated on the farm. He emphasizes how boring and lonely it gets to only retreat towards books when no one wants to be around him, even saying how “sick” he

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