Everyone has felt like an outsider at some point in their life. Because they are different in one way or another. That's why John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is an easy story to empathize with. It tells the story of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small. After finding work on a ranch, they befriend other men there, try to stay out of trouble until they receive their pay at the end of the month, and work to realize their dream of owning and working their own piece of land. Several characters including Candy, Lennie, Crooks, and Curley's wife are the outcasts of this story. Which in turn also makes them the most recognizable. Steinbeck, through the story of Crooks and Curley's wife, explains the relationship between the causes of loneliness, how it affects the characters who suffer from it, and how they struggle to be accepted by or with other characters. For starters, Crooks is a character who thinks very low of himself because he knows that his skin color sets him apart from everyone else and places his worth lower than anyone else on the ranch. He shows this after Curley's wife scolds him for telling her to leave his room and threatening to tell the boss to never let her in the barn again. He becomes helpless against her when the text shows him “getting smaller and smaller as he pressed himself against the wall” (Steinbeck 80). It boils down to nothing when he is reminded that he is a "nigger". He thinks what he says doesn't matter because “That's just a nigga talking, a stoned nigga. So it doesn't mean anything, see?" (Steinbeck 71). He knows that no one wants him around, so he keeps his distance and asks people to keep them. He is reluctant to let others into his bedroom and only does so when.. .middle of the paper... it can be concluded that although both characters had very different methods of dealing with the situation, one was to push everyone away and the other to impose their company on others, both Crooks and his wife of Curley had the same goal: to feel that somewhere, somehow, they belong. There is a lot to learn from this story and its characters because, once again, everyone feels the emotions that everyone has had or will have to face. This story should teach us to be more empathetic, respectful of the feelings of others and above all to accept that everyone is incredibly similar in some aspects and incredibly different in others but that none of their flaws, flaws or quirks should make such a big difference in one's life . approach to that individual. Works Cited Steinbeck, John. Of mice and men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.Letter. Steinbeck, John a Luce, Claire. Los Gatos. 1938.