Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Humans rely on social interaction, attention, and physical contact to survive and develop healthily. It has been proven that these things are crucial for mental and physical development. Without these things, we become isolated, lonely, and depressed. Loneliness is a theme communicated in Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. Examples of loneliness can be seen in every character we are introduced to. The first example can be seen in Crooks in multiple different ways. First, the obvious, is his skin color. He is the only black man at the ranch and doesn’t interact with the white men much so he is forced to spend his time alone. Due to this, he becomes suspicious of any kindness shown to him. "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me," when Lennie came to talk to Crooks he reacted very rude at first, but once he realized Lennie was sincerely being kind and wanted to talk he eased up a bit. He changed his tone and invited …show more content…

Throughout the novel there are many times George and Lennie are questioned for traveling together. When George and Lennie first arrive at their job, the boss thinks George must be staying with Lennie so he can take his paycheck. They have a conversation in which he gets accused of this, “I say what stake you got in this guy? You takin’ his pay away from him?... I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.” This statement shows that he finds it weird that they’re traveling together instead of alone. He assumes there’s some hidden motive behind it other than just looking out for each other. Later in the story George and Slim are talking. Slim states, “Ain’t many guys travel around together. I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” When Slim says this, it shows that not many people stuck together at the time so it was seen as weird when they

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