Mice And Men: Importance Of Human Relationships

Of Mice And Men

The Importance of Human Relationships

Loneliness is being sad or dejected as a result of lack of companionship or separation from others. As I understand it, loneliness is when a person has no one to talk to, no one to confide in, nor anyone to keep companionship with. Extended loneliness may make a person slip into a desolate state, which they try to conceal under a tough image. As we all know, this emotion is too strong to hide and conquers us in the end. The novel, "Of Mice and Men", John Steinbeck deals with loneliness by looking for comfort in a friend, but settling for the attentive ear of a stranger. Although they seem at ease and friendly on the surface, a deep sense of loneliness lingers in the hearts of Crooks, George, and Candy. These character struggle throughout the story to find something close to Ð''brotherly love". The Importance of human relationships shine through till the end.

Crooks, an intelligent, sharp-witted, black stable hand, who takes his name from his crooked back, leads a lonely life. Back then, whites and blacks were separated. He was not allowed to enter the bunkhouse of the boss's house. Crooks had two weaknesses, his crooked back, and his color. Even the other ranch hands rejected this man, thus making him the loneliness man in the story. He is forced to live alone in a barn, with nothing but books to keep him company. Crooks claims books are not enough, there needs to be something more. When Lennie visits him in the room, Crooks befriends him quite fast, just given the chance. As a black man with a physical handicap, Crooks is forced to live on the border of ranch life. He finds a common ground in Lennie then. Both him and Lennie were excluded from the group activities happening that night, because of something they are unable to control, color and personality. Even his best buddy, George left him alone, because of his personality of getting into trouble. His vulnerability shows, as he tells Lennie:

"Ð'...A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. Ð'...I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick." (Steinbeck 72-73)

Crooks is grateful for Lennie's company, and when Candy enters Crook's room, he quickly and happily befriends another. When Lennie talks about his dream farm, a light begins to shine Crook's eyes. He offers completely free labor on their farm, just to earn his keep. Crooks' desperation to get out of his lonely spell prompts him to make such a drastic, but shy, suggestion. Crooks becomes so desperate for a relationship that he offers his services to George and Lennie for free, just to escape his loneliness.

George, is quick-tempered but loving and devoted friend to Lennie. At the beginning of the novel, George reveals his thoughts on loneliness in a story that he narrates about Lennie, himself, on a farm:

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no placeÐ'.... With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit in no bar room blowin' in our jack jus' because