In his novella Of Mice and Men, John
Steinbeck's isolated character of Crooks, who is separated from the other itinerant
workers who stay in the bunkhouse, tells Lennie, another character how insecure he has
become by being alone:
"...A guy set alone out here at
night....Sometimes he get think', an' he got nothing to tell him that's so an' what
ain't so....He can't turn to some other guy ans ast him if he sees it too. He can't
tell. He got nothing to measure
by...."
Humans are such that
they measure themselves by others. When they experience misfortune of any kind, they
feel conquered, or supressed, as does Norman Grotsby who counts himself among the
"defeated," having fought for success and "lost." This sense of failure from measuring
oneself by the perceived merits of others can, then, only be mitigated by the attainment
of those same merits.
These merits can be in financial
areas as well as in human relations. Grotsby, who has failed in a more "subtle
ambition," perhaps love, is equally sick at heart and disillusioned by life. For, the
failure in any aspect of life does, indeed, conquer a person as he begins to doubt his
self-worth and abilities. So often confidence in oneself comes from success, however
one defines this word. If one is stalwart enough and has set the measure of success
within one's own consciousness, there may be less comparison to others, and, therefore,
less a sense of failure when one does not achieve one's goals. However, if, as most
human beings are, a man measures success by his winning in competition with others, then
he feels vanquished by not having outdone those with whom he has vied for
success.
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