Firstly, Curley’s wife is lonely as she is the only female at the farm. The character of Curley’s wife is used to show that women were considered unimportant and powerless. The men don’t want any trouble from her husband so they try to avoid her:
“Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?”
The workers avoid her as she is seen as nothing but trouble. She goes around, trying to seek attention from the workers at the ranch. Curley’s wife is lonely because she has a husband who doesn’t have any time for her. She ends up having her last conversation with Lennie, where she also finds out about the dream. Curley’s wife uplifts her image of being a tart, by acting friendly towards the other men. All she wanted was someone to talk and be able to converse with.
In addition, Candy is an isolated and disabled man who feels lonely while staying with the younger workers at the ranch. This suggests the idea of candy being an unproductive citizen. The workers feel the same way about Candy, as they feel about his dog:
“He ain’t no good to you
and he ain’t no good to himself...”
Carlson’s speech about the old dog actually represents the fact that Candy is also ‘no good’, to others and to himself. This reinforces the idea of Candy being an unproductive citizen. Once the ancient dog is put to rest, Candy is left alone in the world. Candy joins the dream with George and Lennie in order to break free from his loneliness. He also makes two companions that will benefit in his time of need. However, this ends because of the death of Lennie.
Further more, Crooks is lonely because of his skin colour. Crooks is the only black person in the novel. He stays in the stable with the animals. Steinbeck aims to illustrate that crooks is considered more of an animal rather then a human. He is also the victim of verbal assault:
“You keep your place then, nigger”
Crooks is called a nigger which shows that he was a target for racial prejudice. The importance of this is to inform the reader about the political conflict between the ‘whites’ and the ‘blacks’. Crooks also offers to join the dream with George and Lennie to escape from his cruelty and loneliness. He later changes his mind because he believes that dreams never come true.
To conclude, the theme of loneliness is very important in the novel. Some of the reasons of loneliness includes: being lonely because of age, discrimination against gender and being the victim of racial prejudice. Each of the characters affected by loneliness, try to cope with it, by becoming involved or aware of the dream. The fact that Curley’s wife, Candy and Crooks are all ‘invaders’ in the farm, also adds to there loneliness. Loneliness is or will affect everyone so we should always be prepared.
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