Mother Teresa once said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, we see that loneliness was an issue even in the era of George and Lennie. At different parts throughout the story, Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife all feel lonely and have to face different types of loneliness.
Throughout the book, Steinbeck tells us about a somewhat disabled, black man, named Crooks, and shows us his loneliness in the form of discrimination. Crooks shows this loneliness on page 72 by saying,”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.” Crooks, the stable buck, spends his time sitting alone in the stable. Crooks is discriminated, and …show more content…
Curley’s wife was lonely like a person on a deserted island. On page 87 Curley’s wife said,” I get lonely...You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” Curley’s wife gets into her head that she will never be happy because she really wants to be in Hollywood. This quote explains how she hates being lonely and can hardly deal with it. Curley’s wife is also restricted because she is not supposed to talk to any of the men on the ranch. This leaves her no one to talk to which drives her crazy. Curley’s wife shows that if you are lonely and lose all hope,loneliness can really get to you. As told all through Of Mice and Men, no matter the time period, your age, or your gender you can become lonely. At different parts throughout the story Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife all feel lonely and have to face different types of loneliness. A lesson to learn from Of Mice and Men is that you cannot survive without companionship and loneliness can drive you