Mice+Of+Men+Essay

"It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.” So is this true with the people in “Of Mice and Men”? Of course the entire vibe of the book is about loneliness in humans. The only two who were never truly lonely in the story were George and Lennie, and even George becomes like everyone else by the end. In the ones that are most lonely, it shows and can truly be seen because they seek the most attention. Everyone lives in fear of each other; living in an isolated place is the basic setting in “Of Mice and Men”. The loneliest in this novella are Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks, all show it in different ways, whether it be screaming for attention or shoving people away.

The character of Curley’s wife is, in a way, the most attention seeking one in the book. She flirts with every man on the ranch, but she does it for a reason. That reason is loneliness, as of everyone else. She even states on page 87, “I get lonely. You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” she blames her loneliness on others, such as her mom and Curley, but it is her own fault. She dreamed big and turned out small. She said it wasn’t her choice, but she led herself right into it, just like everyone is bound to do.

Candy, the old swamper in the story, had a, in a way, good life. Happy with what he did, had a doge to keep him company; however that all changed when his coworker convinced Candy to let him shoot his dog. That dog, the only family he had left, the closest thing he had to himself, gone. He feels he has nothing left to live for, but hardly shows it. Candy keeps to himself on his issue, that is until he hears of Lennie and George’s plans, and, without even knows or thinking he did, tells them how he really is. “I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys in cause I kick off, ‘cause I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing,” Page 59. If you were oblivious you most wouldn’t be able to see his loneliness, but it defiantly is there.

Lastly there’s Crooks, the black stable buck with a crooked back and an attitude. Crooks doesn’t seek attention but, rather, he tries to push people away. Being treated badly because of the color of his skin, and having no one around him but his parents of the same race is the cause of it. Isolated in his own room, nobody to talk to that doesn’t invite or if someone comes to him, which is rare. Lennie, however, doesn’t take no for an answer when Crooks tells him to leave, then Crooks tells him, “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. I tell ya. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.” Page 12, where he confesses to him that he hates how he lives and is as lonely as anyone can be.

So in a way the quote by Eric Hoffer does truly relate to this story. Everyone’s bound to say that they are lonely even if they aren’t thinking. Whether it be screaming it to the sky or saying it to a person you hardly know it all makes a noise.