How Does Steinbeck Present Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

“Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.” Dag Hammarskiold Loneliness is an emotional response to a lack of companionship. Loneliness is also a lack of connection. In the book of mice and men, all the characters portray loneliness in one way or another. The novel Of Mice and Men takes place in the Great Depression. Two migrant workers are running from a town called Weed, and their names are George and Lennie. They are trying to find work, so they go to Salinas California. In Salinas, they begin work. They meet many other men whom they later become acquaintances with. This longing of others is a very powerful feeling and can compare to, in some aspects, the survival instinct. The

Curley is very cruel throughout the novel. He shows anger and jealousy towards the other men. All he wants to do is pick fights; Curley was often uneasy about the situation. One quote that showed this was, “Curley’s pants is full of ants”(Steinbeck 28.) This shows how he didn’t have anyone to trust in because he was lonely, so he was always very uneasy. He also spent a very long time looking for his wife throughout the book. I think this was because he was so cruel to the other men he had no friends at work. He strived for company so he was looking for his wife a lot throughout the novel. This quote shows a time when he is looking for his wife, “Any of you guys seen my wife?”(Steinbeck 53.) Curley doesn’t have many friends around the barn because he is rude and also the only reason he is around is because he is the son’s boss. As I was reading this article I noticed a quote that showed how Curley must feel in this novel. The quote is, “Feeling lonely has little to do with how many friends you have. It’s the way you feel inside. Some people who feel lonely may rarely interact with people and others are surrounded by people, but don’t feel connected.”("The Three Factors of Loneliness." The Emotionally Sensitive Person. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.) This quote proves that Curley is an example of loneliness. He is surrounded by people, but he still feels lonely. He takes this loneliness out

Candy is one of the older men at the ranch and he only has one hand. Candy’s job is to clean out the bunkhouses and I think that he is lonely from that because he is the only one who does that. Candy has an old dog that is like his only friend and he has had since it was a pup. When the men in the bunkhouse want to shoot Candy’s dog he gets a little angry because he likes the dog so much and it is his best friend. He later tells George that he wishes he would have shot the dog himself. “All the men except Candy watched him. ‘Come boy. Come on boy’ He said gently. And he said apologetically to Candy, ‘He won’t even feel it.’ Candy did not move nor answer him. He twitched the thong. ‘Come on, boy.’ The old dog got slowly and stiffly to his feet and followed the gently pulling leash.” (Steinbeck 48). Candy talks to George and Lennie about the farm that Lennie is always thinking about, George says that Candy could come along with them and Candy is happy because he finally has friends. Candy ends up being disappointed because George ends up having to shoot Lennie for killing Curley’s