Loneliness In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Many people become familiar with loneliness. In one way or another, we have all felt it. Some people have always felt it, and for some, it develops over time. The best way to avoid loneliness is to occupy your time with someone or something else you care about. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men Candy, Crooks, and George open up and share their feelings of loneliness caused by different things. From the death of Candy’s dog to Crooks being all alone and George killing Lennie you can truly understand how you must devote your time to something or loneliness can drive you crazy.
After the death of his dog Candy is one of the characters who feel lonely. Candy is one of the oldest men working on the ranch. He’s had his dog around ever since he
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George devotes a lot of his time to Lennie because without him Lennie would be getting into a lot of trouble. He makes plans for himself and Lennie and tries to make their dreams come true. George always has to take care of Lennie and keep him out of trouble because he does a lot of stupid things. Once when they were in the town Weed Lennie grabbed onto a woman's dress and didn’t let go because he liked how it felt and then got scared when she started screaming. Near the end of the book, George had to make a tough decision to take Lennie's life so he wouldn’t be tortured when he accidentally killed Curley’s wife. You can see the loneliness he feels as he and Slim are talking and he becomes aware that he no longer has anything, “Slim said, ‘You hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me.’ He led George into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway.” Slim is only trying to make things better and sadly there's not much more he can do. After Lennie dies George began to feel lonely very quickly and begins to open up by questioning if what he did was wrong just like Candy did with his dog. George’s loneliness becomes more true now and his life is going to become so lonely because he doesn’t have anyone to always take care of anymore.
You can see how many of the Characters in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men open up on their feelings because they have nothing to live for and no one to be with. Like George did, many people experience this when they lose someone they’ve had for a while. Some people also begin to feel lonely after they lose a pet like Candy did or when they’re left out, like Crooks. Just like them, everyone feels lonely somehow and needs something good to occupy their

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