How Does Steinbeck Create Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

The Great Depression occurred during the the 1930’s and up until the beginning of World War 2. In the United States, there was no such thing as money, possessions, or structure. One night you were in the upper class, the next, you were in the same boat as everyone else, broke. But, in the middle of it all stood an oasis; the Salinas River Valley, which is where our author, John Steinbeck and his story, Of Mice and Men, came about. In his novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses George, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife to prove that people will go to extreme measures to escape loneliness. First and foremost, Steinbeck uses George to contribute to the the theme of loneliness. George is one of the main characters from the book, Of Mice and Men. …show more content…
Crooks is the only black man on the farm. He is crippled and the boss often lets his anger out on him. Crooks is treated cruelly by everyone on the ranch because he is an outcast. One day, Lennie comes to visit him in his room and Crooks describes his bitterness to Lennie. Crooks says, “... S’pose you don’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ‘cause you was black… books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he don’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you” (Steinbeck 72). This quote shows that Crooks is lonely to the point where he is on the verge of going mad and it is obvious that he would do anything in his power to escape the state of miserableness that he is in, contributing to the theme of loneliness. As the chapter continues, Lennie describes the dream farm that him, George, and Candy are going to eventually have. At first, Crooks doubts that it will ever happen and then out of the blue, he changes thought. He claims, “...If you guys would want a hand to work for nothing - just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand” (Steinbeck 76). This quote shows that Crooks is willing to contradict his own opinion to escape loneliness even though the dream is unrealistic and will never happen which contributes to the theme of …show more content…
George attempts this by keeping a destructive friendship which fails in the end. Crooks tries this by offering his body to help the cause of the dream farm which is unrealistic. Finally, Curley's Wife attempts to dig herself out of the hole called loneliness by chatting with other men but ends up burying herself in that hole. Loneliness is a thing that the book characters couldn’t escape from and neither can we in the struggle that we call