Loneliness is defined as Without companions; lone. I will use this definition to describe different aspects of Steinbeck's treatment of loneliness in this novel. Steinbeck's use of loneliness is in this novel is very noticeable in some of the dialogue like when Lennie accidentally stumbles into Crook's home in

" Some day were we're gona get the jack together and were gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an'a cow and some pigs and ...' 'an' live off the fatta the lan',' Lennie shouted."

At the end of the story when George shot Lennie he realized that he killed all of his hopes an dreams in the process. This suggest, somehow that everybody in this world is truly alone. Steinbeck presents us with a bleak picture of human loneliness. It is not entirely clear, at the end of the novel whether he is presenting us with loneliness or negative images. On the surface his vision seems to be negative but he does seem to suggest that it is our struggle to come to terms with the reality of loneliness that leaves a sense of dignity in our lives.

the stable and they talk. "You got George. You know he's goin' to come back. S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go to the bunk-house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horse shoes til it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. 'He whined : 'A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long he's with you. I tell ya,' he cried , I tell you a guy gets lonely an' he gets sick." This shows Crook's view of the world and how he feels about what his life is about. He feels as though nobody cares for him which is probably true from the quote above.

George and Lennie feel they are not alone they have a dream. This dream is what

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Approximate Word count = 1067
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)