Loneliness is a recurring theme in the novel portrays loneliness through the lives of Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife. In all of their lives each of their lives isolation determines their personality. They all struggle with isolation that is based off characteristics that none of of them can controls like their physical characteristics. For example racism, sexism and ageism. Crooks the african-american man that works on the farm as a stable buck is isolated and forced to be lonely just because he is black. Since he is the only colored man on the property he is discriminated against on lots of separate incidents. Crooks is like any human being they just want to feel appreciated and cared for.”S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse to play rummy cuz you was black.
How’d you like that?” Crooks just want to be one of the guys he wants to play horseshoes like the others do, he wants to play cards like the others do and for sure wants to sleep in the bunkhouse like the others do. But since he is black he has to live outside with the horses like a animal. He just wants to know that someone is there for him. ” Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you.
I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.” One night Lennie meets Crooks out in the barn as he is putting his puppy back with the mother and Crooks offends Lennie when he asks a hypothetical question. Lennie starts to get frustrated with Crooks’ question and Crooks quickly realizes and apologizes. Crooks is just trying to show Lennie what is like to be in his shoes and when Lennie freaks out it proves that Crooks is lonely and everyone is afraid to be alone. Crooks is so lonely a this point that he doesn’t want company anymore. Lennie smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends.”Crooks said sharply, “You got no right to come in my room.
This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here but me.” Crooks is so used to be being alone and getting shut down by other white people in his attempt to befriend them, that his natural response to all white people is to leave him be. Crooks’ displays his vulnerability in this passage because he has such desire for a friend, but since he is burned with a colored skin tone in the 1930s he has to accept the fact that no one wants to accompany him. Everyone has already written him off simply because he isn’t white.
