“Friendship needs no words—it is a loneliness relieved of the anguish of loneliness.” - Dag Hammarskjold. Without friends, people begin to suffer loneliness and solitude. In Of Mice and Men, the characters of Crooks and Curley’s wife suffer loneliness stemmed from some form of rejection. Both of them are desperate to find an escape from their loneliness or some easy way to cope with their seclusion from the rest of the society.

Crooks is a black man that experiences isolation because the society that he lives in is racist. “ A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody … I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick.” Crooks’ loneliness is a result of rejection from everyone else on the ranch. He is forced to live alone in a barn, let to work only with the horses. Crooks spends most of his time reading. The only relationship he can find is with his books. When Lennie enters his room, Crooks is interested in Lennie’s relationship with George. “Well s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back.” Crooks wants to make people understand and maybe even have sympathy for his situation. Crooks becomes so desperate for a relationship that he offers his services to George and Lennie for free, just to escape his loneliness.

Curley’s wife, Mae, is married to a man that gives her little attention and none of his time. Mae dresses and acts like a “tart” to gain attention on the ranch in order to soothe her loneliness. Because she is the only woman on the ranch, her flirting causes the men on the ranch to want to avoid her. “Wha’s the matter with me? Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” The men don’t want any trouble from her husband. Mae struggles to find someone in her society to consult with. She finally seeks out someone who doesn’t know any better than to talk to her. Once she found that person, Lennie, her lonliness is sotthed permanently.

Loneliness is an emotion even the strongest can’t avoid. In the story, one can find many cases of loneliness, mainly a result of discrimination or prejudice. Crooks was an outcast from society because of his race. Mae was to be avoided at all costs simply because she was a woman in a man’s world. In both cases, they tried to cope with their loneliness by taking interest in Lennie and George’s relationship, and both were no better off at the conclusion of the story.