Of Mice and Men:
Why you should talk to strangers
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In this Ted Talk, Kio Stark explains her claim on why people should talk to strangers. Her first reasoning is because its a quick interaction and its easy to be open with someone you'll never see again. Her second reasoning is that people have a bias when it comes to the people they are close to and they expect those people to always understand where they're coming from and that's not the case. In Of Mice and Men, nearly all the characters admit to feeling some kind of loneliness or isolation. Each wants the comfort of a friend or companionship in general but choose to settle for a ear given by a stranger. In the novel, Crooks tells Lennie that life is not worth it without a companion for times of need when a person needs an aid. For example, Curley's wife expresses to complete strangers how unhappily married she is. She's desperately vulnerable for a ear to listen to her. When Lennie is by himself waiting for George to come back, Curley's wife comes over and sparks up a conversation with him. Even though Lennie tries to resist the conversation, they end up opening up into deep thought about their lives and personal troubles. Crooks talks it up with Lennie one day also and almost every character in the book expresses their future dream. It doesn't matter with who, but a connection can be with a complete stranger and can make it seem like you've known the person for a lifetime. Kio Stark challenges us to spark up a conversation with a stranger in passing, tell them something true and deep about ourselves and a person will give us that feeling that we are understood.
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