In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, in the height of the Great Depression, the main characters Lennie and George work on a ranch in Salinas where they meet lots of people. They meet Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife who resemble loneliness. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author uses the characters of Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife to express a theme of loneliness. Steinbeck uses the characters of Crooks to illustrate a theme of loneliness. Crooks was talking to Lennie about how he wasn’t wanted in the bunkhouse. Lennie was curious why this was and Crooks replied, “ ‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me” (68). Crooks represents loneliness because since everyone is prejudice, nobody wants to talk to him. Since Crooks was African American, none of the white people listen to him or even treat him as a human. He has no one to listen to him, he is alone. He was neglected by everybody, so all he had was himself. Lennie had suddenly walked into the doorway of Crooks shed-like room, where Crooks begins becoming very defensive of why Lennie is in his room and says, “You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted in the bunk-house, and you ain’t wanted in my room” (68). This shows how Crooks pretends he doesn’t want Lennie in his room, when he actually does. But because he is so lonely, he feeds for company but rejects others because everyone rejects him. Crooks has been very isolated from other people on the ranch. He has been taught not to speak up and stand up for himself because of his skin color. Crooks is a symbol of loneliness along with a stoop-shouldered old, useless man named Candy. The character of Candy is used to portray a theme of loneliness in Of Mice and Men. Candy and everybody else in the room were waiting for Slim to shoot Candy’s dog because they all thought