Of+Mice+and+Men+Essay

Loneliness

George and Lennie were never as lonely as any other characters in the book, “Of Mice and Men”. They always had eachother to rely on. “It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. His is true of men as of dogs.” This quote by Eric Hoffer tells how the loneliness is the main theme, describing mainly Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife.

Crooks is a black stable buck that was kicked by a horse when he was younger. Even since then, he has had a bent back forcing him to stay hunched over for his whole life. No body ever talks to this poor man so he is very distant and not very social. “He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs.” Page 67. When Lennie came totalk to him,at first he tried to push him away but eventually he was happy that someone was actually talking to him.

Candy is also a very lonely character in this book. He is an old man that lost his hand and his dog that he has had since it was a puppy. The only one he would ever talk to was his dog but that dog was shot. When George and Lennie came to the ranch, candy was grateful for talking to them and showed desperation by saying, "I'd make a will an' leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, 'cause I ain't got no relatives nor nothing." page 59. He hadn't even known George and Lennie and already wanted to go live with them.

The last and most likely the most lonely character in this whole book was Curley's wife. Curley would always tell her to stay home and not to talk to anyone. She never obeyed him and would always wonder off to try and talk to anyone she could find. "'I get lonely, she said, 'You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley.'" page 87. Curley's wife was happy to talk to anybody she would. She was the only girl on the ranch and was only allowed to talk to one man so she was extremely desperate for attention.

In each of these characters, loneliness is shown greatly throughout the book. Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife all reach out to other without success. The only people who aren't lonely, are George and Lennie who travel together and always had eachother. The loneliest people are always the ones desperatly reach out in hope to make friends, but this almost never succeeds. In fact, this pushes people away even more.