John Steinbeck's Theme Of Loneliness In 'Of Mice And Men'

Throughout Of Mice and Men, George never leaves Lennie’s; however, George does not seem to like being around Lennie: it is a responsibility he accepts. In one scene at the beginning of the book, George grows intensely frustrated with Lennie and begins a lecture which leads into a one-sided fight. They settle down for the night next to a river, when one insignificant question from Lennie sets George over the edge. He chides Lennie about how he holds him back instead of pushing him forward, and rants, “‘You can’t keep a job and you lose me every job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble’” (11). As George berates Lennie, he gives the impression that he does not enjoy being with Lennie and instead, treats Lennie like he is an unintelligent child and grudgingly takes him in. If George claims to be a suitable friend of Lennie,

George was a good friend to Lennie because he cares for him. Lennie’s aunt died a while back and George promised her that he would take care of Lennie no matter what. George was not forced to watch over Lennie, he made a choice and stuck with it. Also, Lennie was holding a dead mouse and he was petting it. George saw and threw it across the pool. (page 6) He did that so Lennie wouldn’t get sick or a disease. Finally, George and Lennie went to work on a farm and there was a woman. She was a man named Curley’s wife. George had heard that she was trouble and told Lennie to stay away from her so that he wouldn’t get hurt.

First of all George is always cooking food for Lennie, he is also always trying to find a job for Lennie because Lennie can’t keep one. George makes sure Lennie gets food “I got three cans of beans in my bindle”(steinbeck 8).This quote is very strong because it

Strong friendships have the power to make people’s lives better. George and Lennie travel together and eventually live together, resulting in a strong bond between them. George cares for Lennie and he makes sure

George says I could get along so easily if I didn’t have you on my tail”(7). George said this to Lennie because Lennie is hard to be with and he is hard to take care of. “If you don’t want me I can go off in the hilld and find a cave, I can go away anytime”(103). Lennie said this because he thought George didn’t want to be with him and didn’t like him.

In Of Mice and Men, there are an abundance of themes throughout the novel. One of those themes is friendship which is shown clearly though George. In the novel, when Lennie says, “Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you.” (Steinbeck 14) shows how close of friends George and Lennie are. They rely off of each other because George physically helps Lennie, and Lennie helps George mentally to not be as grim. However, another on of the themes is loneliness. Although George has Lennie, he can get lonely because he does not have anyone else to talk to. George is not the only who is lonely because Curley’s wife also shows that she is lonely when she says, “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (Steinbeck 77) When Steinbeck was writing his novel, he wants readers to understand even though our best friends are loyal, they need other people to talk to and will at sometime lose

In addition to George always picking on Lennie, George was the only person who vowed to take care of Lennie when his great aunt Clara became ill. “I told his old lady i’d take care of him” (Steinbeck 22). Given by that, Lennie could not function alone and by himself, even though he was a grown man he just had some major difficulties. At one time he relied on his Aunt Clara, but now since George has betrayed his promise he had made to take care of

Lennie is a very misunderstood individual. He has some sort of mental issue that makes his life different than normal. Lennie has a thing for soft fluffy things, he likes to hold them and pet them. Most of the time these soft things end up dead which Lennie tries his hardest to keep from George when this happens. George once found a dead mouse in Lennie’s pocket that he had been keeping there for 3 whole days after it died (Lisca). Lennie is a giant of a man. He does not understand how much power he has. This causes a lot of the mistakes he makes. George is there most of the time to correct or stop Lennie from doing these things. There are sometimes when George is not there to stop him and Lennie gets them both into trouble. The two have had to move several times because of Lennie (McMurray). In fact every time they have had to leave a place was because of Lennie’s actions. There was one thing Lennie got them in and they could not run from it. Lennie was in the barn and Curley’s wife came in. He wanted to touch her hair and he ended up rubbing it too hard. She yelled for help and he wanted her to shut up so he

Throughout the story, George is always trying to keep Lennie in check. In chapter one, George says to Lennie, "Well, we ain't got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain't got, that's

George is a very sharp and austere man with meticulous thoughts. George is as well often frustrated by Lennie’s mistakened actions. However, unlike many other people working on a low salary, George actually has a companion. Considering Lennie’s situation, George makes his very best effort to give Lennie a good life even on a farm. “George said softly, "—I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would." (Ch.5) Both having the dream to have their own farm and raise many animals in the future, he puts up with Lennie’s foolishness. George as well cares about Lennie even if he may pet a dog too hard. Without Lennie, George would be left as a loner and George wouldn't be able to thrive. George feels great responsibility when being with Lennie. Situations like this make George ask himself if life is really worth it to leave

Loneliness is normal in life, it happens to everybody. Loneliness happens when you don't have any friends or anyone to talk to. In John Steinbeck's “Of Mice and Men”, many characters are plagued by loneliness. Three of those characters are George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. They are all lonely because they feel unwanted or have no friends.

George’s frustration over this is often displayed through his cruel and at times abusive words toward Lennie, saying things such as “If I was a relative of yours I'd shoot myself” (12). That said, George’s interactions with Lennie also help to bring out his kindness. While his efforts are not always perfect, George is constantly looking out for Lennie. These aspects of George’s character are almost only brought out during his conversations with Lennie - in most cases he is brief yet polite, rarely showing any of the personality we see when he’s with Lennie. Thus, friendship becomes the main - and in some cases, only - way we see into George’s character and personality

Loneliness follows all of the characters except for George and Lennie, because they have each other. Their dream of owning the farm is their way of breaking the pattern of loneliness. In addition to dreams, humans long for human contact to give their lives meaning. The vast majority of the migrant workers travel alone and Slim once says "I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good.

We can see this when George says ”I ain’t takin’ it away jus’ for meanness. That mouse ain’t fresh.” This shows us that George feels a sense of responsibility towards Lennie and needs to take care of Lennie as Lennie can not do it for himself. This only happens because they are friends and share a close bond which is why we do not see it happening with the other characters. In this we see how George takes the mouse away from Lennie because it is dead and not ‘fresh’ and is a sign of danger as and it may result in making Lennie sick which shows how George takes charge and cares about Lennie’s wellbeing.

Of Mice and Men is a skillful novel, that portrays the idea of loneliness throughout the novel. Two men, George and Lennie are there for each other through everything. They also have their tiffs just like any other friends. There are several clearly stated themes running through the novel. But, the two themes that interact with each other are loneliness and companionship.