Of Mice and Men: Loneliness
Uploaded by nbzhomer on Jun 09, 2000
In terms of emotional stability, there is only one thing in life that is really needed and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-esteem and deprivation. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all exhibit some form of loneliness. They are driven towards the curiosity of George and Lennie’s friendship because they do not have that support in their life. Through his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck demonstrates that often times, a victim of isolation will have a never-ending search to fulfill a friendship.
"A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t matter no difference who the guy is, longs he with you. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick" (Steinbeck, 13)
Crooks is a black man that experiences isolation because the society in which he resides is racist. As a result, the previous quote was his means of finding a personal connection to Lennie. Like Lennie, Crooks has a ‘relationship’ with loneliness. He knows that when people get lonely, they tend to get sick. Studies show that people who suffer from loneliness have higher incidence of health problems. This can be determined based on his emotional behavior. "A 1998 study showed that 50 percent of patients with heart disease who reported feeling very isolated were not married and had no one in whole they could communicate with, died within five years." (ub-counseling.buffalo.edu) At the rate Crooks is headed, he will probably die in a short period of time. Gerontology stated "seniors, who attend church at least weekly, live longer than those who don’t." By attending church, the attendees maintain a relationship with god and have the ability to relieve themselves of loneliness. They can deal with their severe problem of loneliness through attending church or other social events and in turn, live longer. Crooks is rejected from every group of people and cannot socially interact with others.
"Loneliness can result from rejection…" (Couns.uiuc.edu/loneline.htm) Although discrimination is still present during the time period of the book (early 20th century), Crooks still attempts to make friends. Others treat Crooks unjust because he is different from others given that he is black. He does not know how to treat others because of the way others treat him; with disrespect. Furthermore, he does not know how to...