The Role Of Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Water might be essential to life, but companionship and acceptance are crucial to staying sane. Loneliness is inevitable in one’s life, but to constantly be isolated is possibly the worst punishment in existence.While understanding the concept of being alone, along the way allows one to be reminded of the value of friendship. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men shows the effects of how one might be in the absences of acceptance and camaraderie, his work shifts the reader’s view that enables them to understand the misfits of the novel. Throughout the book, Curley’s wife never fit in with the dynamic of the other characters for several reasons which led her to feel like an outcast. For example, when George is explaining to Lennie why to stay away from Curley’s …show more content…
While Curley’s wife lay lifeless on the ground, Candy continues to blame her for being killed (pg 95). Curley’s wife never wanted to be murdered by Lennie but they accused her of the incident anyways, which was unjust because she never had a say in what they do to begin with. Even though it got her in trouble, her intentions were meant to only fulfill her needs for human interaction and that mostly was repressed. After Slim finally exploded ,he released his anger by yelling at Curley how he was “ gettin’ God damn sick of it.” as he relentlessly stated“...what you expect me to do about it? You lay offa me.” to get Curley to stop bothering him about his wife(pg 62). Since she is a lady it seemed as if the men had expectations of how she should act, repeatedly neglecting her basic needs as a human. Being the only female, she is only perceived as Curley’s property and nothing more, she wasn’t even significant enough to receive a name.The actions of the other characters played a significant role for the lack of her acceptance and her differences only made it