Analyzing Lonliness in Of Mice and Men
...? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read book. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you had to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him." (Pg 72) Crooks exhibit the corrosive effects that loneliness has on a person. What Crooks wants more than anything out of life is some acceptance and a sense of belonging. He longs for the right to play cards with the white migrant workers and to be able to live up to their "standards". This desire explains why, even though he has reason to doubt George and Lennie's fantasy of owning their own farm, he cannot help but ask if there would be room available for him to hoe in the garden. "….If you…guys would want a hand to work for nothing- just his keep, why I'd come an' lend a hand. I ain't so crippled I can't work like a S.O.B. if I want to." (Pg 76) Crooks constantly hope for a better lifestyle in which he can be accepted. He also hopes for a job that would not cause too much stress to his back and a job on George and Lennie's farm would be just that. "There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow." (Orison Marden) Until the day that his dreams come true, Crooks will continue to live in isolation, lonely and possibly going mad. Throughout the entirety of this novel, Curley's wife is plagued with loneliness because she never had a chance to fulfill her dreams as a movie star. Curley's wife is the only female character featured the novel, thus making her a minority and an outcast on the ranch firsthand and is seen as nothing but trouble." She's gonna make a mess. They's gonna be a bad mess about her. She's jailbait all set on the trigger. That Curley got his work cut out for him. Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain't no place for a girl, specially like her." (Pg 51) The men avoid her in fear of making her jealous-hearted husband, a championship boxer, angry. " You're all scared of each other, that's what. Ever' one of you's scared the rest is goin' to get something on you." (Pg 77) The men see her as even more of a threat because of her attractive appearance and her inviting behavior. From the very beginning, the ranchers as a "tart" and a "tramp" view her but her character eventually becomes more complex. When she confronts Lennie, Candy, and Crooks in the stable, she admits her dissatisfaction with life. She once had big plans of becoming a movie star during her early teen years and they all ended with her unhappily married to Curley. (Pg 88-89) Curley is usually at work on the ranch thus leaving her even lonelier and begging for attention and companionship. She says herself that she does not want to stay locked up in the house all day alone. She is so lonely in fact; she invites the company of Lennie despite his lack of talent for conversation. "Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awfully lonely." (Pg 86) She not only confides in him, but she even goes as far as pouring her heart out to him. Someone once said that humans have developed a phobia of being alone, sometimes preferring the most trivial and most obnoxious company, the most meaningless activities, to being alone. People seem to be frightened at the prospect of facing themselves. This fear ended up costing Curley's wife her life. Curley's wife died living a life of loneliness because she was unable to fulfill her dreams in her past. Candy, the old handyman, was a lonely man and lived day to day with the threat of becoming even lonelier if he were to lose his job. Candy only has one hand as the result of an accident and he worries often the "the boss" will soon declare him useless and demand that he leave the ranch. " I got hurt four years ago. They'll can me pretty soon. Jus' as soon as I can't swamp out no bunk houses they'll put me on the county." (Pg 60) His ranch-mates are the closest things he has to a family because he has no other family. He only had his dog that was very important to him. "I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him." (Pg 44) If he were to leave the ranch, he would totally be on his own. His fear is so real that he allows George and Lennie's dream of a perfect farm distract him from the harsh reality of it all. " I planted crops for damn near ever'body in this state, but they wasn't my crops, and when I harvested 'em, it wasn't none of my harvest. But we gonna do it now, and don't' make no mistake about that." (Pg 76) He deems the few acres of land the describe worthy of his hard-earned life's savi...