“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” - Mother TeresaLoneliness is the sadness resulting from being isolated or abandoned. Being alone is almost always directly linked to relationships between people, or lack thereof. Mother Teresa once said: “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted are the most terrible forms of poverty.” In John Steinbeck's classic novel, Of Mice and Men, the three characters, Crooks, Curley's wife and Candy struggle with loneliness in different forms due to characteristics they cannot control. All three characters deal with their loneliness by seeking companionship with others on the ranch and this works differently for each of them. Crooks is an African-American stable boy on the ranch, who because he is black is very isolated and lonely. He is the only black man on the ranch and is segregated from the others on multiple occasions. All Crooks wants is to be able to do daily activities with the other ranch workers, even just a game of cards. However, because Crooks is black, he is not allowed in the dormitory and is forced to live alone in the barn. He wants to feel that someone cares about him: "It makes no difference who that guy is, as long as he's with you. I'm telling you, a guy gets too lonely and gets sick." (80) Lennie finds Crooks in his room one night while he is playing with the new puppies on the ranch. After Crooks tries to play a prank on Lennie, Crooks realizes that Lennie is slow and thinks like a child, so he fails to understand that he is just playing a prank on him. Crooks then invites Lennie to stay with him for a while, and for one night he forgets about his loneliness. Crooks seeks companionship in Lennie; you see that yes...... middle of paper...... buy the land. This dream helps distract Candy throughout the novel from the harsh reality of her life. Like Crooks, Candy finds companionship and happiness in the other ranch workers. He also finds comfort in the dream which, although unrealistic, helps him forget his lonely life. Loneliness is a major theme in the book, most of the characters experience it in some way; and everyone has a way to channel it. however, the only people whose lives truly change throughout the novel are those who force themselves to fight their fight. Those who do nothing about it are left alone. As in real life, if you don't fight a problem, it will never go away. The ancient Greek saying "God helps those who help themselves" describes the essence of the novel very well because it shows the fact that perhaps the only thing that keeps us alone is ourselves..