The trap of loneliness pulls individuals away from the rest of mankind leading to a repeating and relentless cycle

The trap of loneliness pulls individuals away from the rest of mankind leading to a repeating and relentless cycle. Throughout the novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows the story of George and Lennie as they go through their routines at the farm leading to a sad, but well written end. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck illustrates that loneliness alienates anyone that falls into its trap.
Crooks loneliness causes him to remove himself from the others due to his feelings of not being wanted. When Lennie sees Crooks’ light while checking on his puppy he looks into Crooks’ room. Crooks is unhappy and tells Lennie to get out. When Lennie does not leave Crooks says,”I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse, and you ain’t wanted in my room” (Steinbeck 68). Crooks is feeling lonely and because he feels this way he feels he needs to pay them back for ignoring and outcasting him by making the “normal” people feel lonely. This causes a full alienation of himself from the others. Alienation like this can also be shown in Candy and his dog.
Candy’s loneliness after losing one of his best friends, his dog causes himself to sink into his own world and quickly alienating the others. Right after Candy’s argument with his bunkmates about whether or not to kill his dog, he finally gives in and ends up putting the dog down so that it would end the dogs’ pain and suffering. After sending his dog out to be killed he quickly sinks into despair and separation. After a short time of silence, Slim tells Candy that he can have any of the dogs from a recently born litter Steinbeck writes,”Candy did not answer. The silence fell on the room again” (Steinbeck 48). Candy does not want to talk to anybody after his dog’s death. He feels like he was forced to kill him and feels like it is his bunkmates’ fault. When he hears the shot in the distance he turns to face the wall and sinks further into his loneliness and does not have the will to escape. The causes him to alienate his bunkmates and add to his loneliness. The alienation by Candy and Crooks is similar to the alienation of another character, Lennie.
Lennie may not seem lonely, but because of the way he is different he craves friendship. When Lennie is talking with Crooks, Crooks suggests that George may not come back to the farm from his short trip into town and will leave Lennie behind. Lennie quickly gets upset and says,”George wouldn’t do nothing like that. I been with George a long time. He’ll come back tonight” (Steinbeck 71). This quote shows that Lennie only has one friend, George. Lennie needs George to come back so that he has friends and a way to make money and in turn live a healthy life. Lennie is craving friends, but can not find any so he ends up resorting to trying Crooks’ room.. This causes Lennie to be lonely and further think he cannot have friends so he does not try to find them on his own.
Lennie, Candy, and Crooks all have their own ways of alienation, but it is all caused by their loneliness. Throughout Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck makes all of his characters who are lonely alienate themselves. Proving that loneliness alienates. Ultimately humanity must pull themselves out of the pit that is loneliness or else they will all be trapped in the cycle of alienation.