Theme Of Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, set in California during the Great Depression, tells the story of two migrant workers, Lennie and George, and their struggle to support themselves and each other. Along their journey to find work, they find themselves on a ranch, where they meet many men who live in a similar condition to them. Two people that they come across, however, do not have the same type of loving, supportive relationship that Lennie and George share. Curley’s wife and Crooks are two characters who belong to a minority group. Curley’s wife, a woman, and Crooks, a black man, face adversity that the white men do not. They struggle with loneliness in a way that nobody else on the ranch experiences, because due to discrimination, they are forced to be alone. In other words, the world’s view on these two characters contributes to their isolated position and worsens their loneliness. Curley’s wife’s loneliness stems from the separation of her and her family at a very young age. She married Curley to escape from her home, where her mother was trying to protect her by saying she could not get married at the age of fifteen. Being a teenager, …show more content…
Several instances throughout the piece of literature contribute to the author’s in-depth description of Curley’s Wife’s and Crooks’ isolation, even though they are only supporting characters. By including the hardships of these two characters, Steinbeck suggests that loneliness can affect a person’s life completely. Not only that, but the inference can also be made that the discrimination against these two characters was strongly connected to their loneliness, and caused them further isolation. In conclusion, the human condition of loneliness and the world’s impact on that isolation is demonstrated through the characters of Crooks and Curley’s Wife in Of Mice and