Loneliness In Mice And Men

“Loneliness is my least favorite thing about life. The thing that I 'm most worried about is just being alone without anybody to care for or someone who will care for me” (Hathaway). Loneliness is one of the main problems that affects all characters in the story of Mice and Men. The problem was a reality due to fact that the setting of the story takes place during the time of the great depression in California. Because of this, loneliness affects characters in of Mice and Men through Crooks being negative, Curley’s wife having a flirtatious characteristic, and Candy because he becomes miserable at the loss of his only friend but then determined when making new friends.

Crooks who is one of the characters in of Mice and Men is affected …show more content…
Curley’s wife is a young and beautiful woman who has a dream to become an actress in Hollywood. But after she left her home, to live with Curley, her life started to go downhill because discrimination against women suppresses many of her rights as a human. Although she faces discrimination, the biggest problem she has by living on the ranch is loneliness because to her, having a lifestyle full of loneliness is unbearable. As shown in the following quote, Curley’s wife is plainly sick of being alone in the house of the ranch. “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). Being lonely is sickening to Curley 's wife because she gets too bored doing nothing without nobody. By being lonely, Curley’s wife develops a flirtatious characteristic when she is around the workers of the ranch because she can’t stand being alone without anyone to talk with. Another piece of evidence that explains why Curley’s wife is affected by Loneliness was while she explained to Lennie that she couldn’t talk with anyone except for her husband. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (Steinbeck 87). Curley’s wife is utmost enraged at the fact that she couldn’t speak to anybody other than her husband which in the story, she confesses …show more content…
In the story, Candy who is an old man works as a swamper on the Ranch alongside his dog which he considered his only friend. As Carlson who is another worker in the story reminds Candy that his dog is now to old and incapable of doing any work, Candy realizes that he has had his dog for so long that he got used to it’s presence. Since the dog was so old and useless, Carlson decides to take Candy’s dog and shoot it so that it doesn’t suffer anymore by living. This event in the story brings loneliness to Candy as he loses his dog which he considered his only friend. Losing a friend in that fashion made Candy wish that that he himself would die the same way his dog died as shown in the following quote. “When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won 't have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs” (Steinbeck 60). When Candy becomes too old and incapable of working, he knows that just like his dog, he will not be wanted. He wishes in a sense to be shot in the back of his head just like his dog to end his pain but that won 't happen because he is a human being. The main reason why Candy wishes to die before he gets to old is that he will get lonely because like he said, he will have no place to go to or to work at. This of course, makes him feel miserable