In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curly's wife all exhibit some form of loneliness.

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“OF MICE AND MEN IS A NOVEL ABOUT LONELINESS”

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 companionship in their life. Through his novel, Steinbeck demonstrates that sometimes, a victim of separation will have an endless search to fulfil a friendship. In Of Mice and Men, the characters of Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife suffer loneliness stemmed from some form of rejection. They 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 in which he lives in is racist. "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". This quote was Crook’s way of finding a personal connection to Lennie. Like Lennie, Crooks has experienced loneliness. He knows that when people get lonely, they tend to get sick.

Most of the men have a lot of prejudice against Crooks, referring to him with derogatory terms such as ‘nigger’. He is forced to live alone in a barn, let to work only with the horses. Crooks spends most of his time reading. 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 vent his frustration and as a result, lashes out at others because they are cruel to him, says quote: "Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m Black. They say I stink. Well I tell you, you all stink to me!"

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 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.” Crook wants to make people understand and maybe even have sympathy for his situation. As Crooks is a disempowered character who turns his vulnerability into a weapon to attack those who are even weaker. He plays a cruel game with Lennie, suggesting to him that George is gone for good. Only when Lennie threatens him with physical power does he relent.

Crooks then reveals anguish, says quote “You ...

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