Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Analysis

This quote spoken by Mother Teresa means that all humans need to have social interaction, and they need to feel wanted so that they can feel honorable about themselves. In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, three characters face loneliness and alienation from the rest the group: Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. All three are searching for friendship and acceptance. However, they all deal with their loneliness and alienation in different ways; Lennie does his own thing and tries to stay out of trouble and fails, leading to his demise; Crooks stays in his bunk house ceaselessly; and Curley’s wife sneaks out her bunk house, trying to find someone to talk to, which ultimately leads to her demise. First off, Lennie deals with his loneliness …show more content…
His motivation to stay in his bunk house all of the time is that all of the other workers are discriminatory against him. In a conversion between Crooks and Lennie in chapter 4, the reason everyone is discriminatory against Crooks is revealed: “‘Why ain’t you wanted?’ ‘’Cause I’m black….they play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black…they say I stink….well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me’,” (Steinbeck 68). In this dialogue, Crooks tells Lennie that he can never be with the others because they think lowly of him. Later on in the chapter, Candy comes in and tells Crooks about the dream of owning a farm. Crooks then offers to help then on the farm in this piece of dialogue: “‘If you …guys would want a hand to work for nothing-just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand’,” (Steinbeck 76). At the end the chapter however, Crooks says that he didn’t mean about what he said about helping out on the farm. “‘I didn’t mean it…. I wouldn’t want to go no place like that’,” (Steinbeck 83). In the back of his mind, Crooks knew that this dream would never be fulfilled and he didn’t want to get his hopes up, or he knew that George, Lennie, or Candy would never let him work on the farm, making him forever lonely, just like he is …show more content…
Further into the book, Curley’s wife comes into Crooks bunk house looking for Curley, even though she knows he is in town at the ‘cat house’ with the other men. “‘Funny thing…if I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine…let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk’,” (Steinbeck 77). This dialogue spoken by Curley’s wife shows how all of the guys are afraid to talk to her in a group because they can protect each other in a sense from her. Later in the book, Curley’s wife reveals that she doesn’t like to stay in her house all day. “‘Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?’” (Steinbeck 77). This dialogue spoken by Curley’s wife clearly shows how truly lonely she is and that she just wants to have social interaction with others. In chapter 5, however, things go horribly wrong. Hoping to find someone to talk to, Curley’s wife goes into the barn, finding Lennie with his dead puppy. In dialogue between Curley’s wife and Lennie, more of her loneliness is revealed: “‘George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you-talk to you or nothing’…. ‘Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody…I get awful lonely….you can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley…How’d you like not to talk to anybody?’” (Steinbeck 86-87). Later on in the chapter, Curley’s wife lets Lennie touch her hair, with a disastrous result: Lennie kills her. “And then she was still, for