FREE ESSAY ON OF MICE AND MEN

OF MICE AND MEN

Of Mice and Men
Essay written by Joe
A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Don't matter no difference who the guy is, long's
he's with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick. A major theme in
Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men is loneliness. The characters Crooks, Candy and
Curley's wife each suffer from this although the severity of their seclusion varied. 
The old swapper, Candy was victimized by isolation as a result of two main factors, one
being his disability and the other being his age. For example, throughout the book we
find the farmhands out bucking the barley while Candy is left behind to sweep and clean
the ranch. He lost his hand after getting it caught in a piece of machinery and as a
result he is forced to stay behind. This being one of the major factors that leads to his
loneliness. Furthermore, Candy's age adds to his feeling of uselessness. Because he
thinks that he is old he puts himself in a state of mind that handicaps him more than his
missing hand ever will. He looks down on himself as an old worthless man that's wasting
away his last few years. Not only is it the way that others think of him but also the way
he thinks of himself that forces him to find solitude.
The most evident case of loneliness is Curley's wife. No matter how hard she tried she
couldn't fit in. For example, when she tried numerous times to talk to George and Lenny
she was either ignored or told to leave. Because of her reputation for being a flirt none
of the farmhands wanted to talk to her. It was the threat of getting in trouble with
Curley that caused many workers to avoid her. In addition, because of Curley's insecure
feelings he neglected her and forced her to seek attention anyway she could, even it
meant flirting. She was ignored by both the farmhands and her own husband and because of
this she was being forced into loneliness, the one thing she fought so hard against. 
Crooks is a black man that experiences isolation in terms of racism. For example, he is
forced to live alone in the barn. Because the setting of this book takes place during the
1930's discrimination sadly still existed. The farmhands feel that since he is black he
isn't worthy of living with the rest of them. Furthermore, his separation from others
causes his severe loneliness. He spends his nights reading and his days alone in the barn
working on the horses. His distance from others eventually causes his downfall. We find
discrimination being the major cause of this characters loneliness. He is treated as an
outcast and underling and is forced to find friendship in the only thing he can, the
books he reads. 
Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life that not even the strongest can avoid.
Throughout the story Of Mice and Men we discover the many sources of solitude, primarily
being discrimination and prejudice. Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife all suffer from
these facts which leads them to their loneliness. As for the consequences we find that
the severity of each characters loneliness varied and that the eventual effects were
directly related to the magnitude of their desolation.
Bibliography
My name is Joe.