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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Decent Essays

1. Steinbeck’s life experiences influenced him when writing Of Mice and Men. For instance, Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, which is about thirty minutes away from where the novel takes place in Soledad, California. The novel took place during the Great Depression being that Steinbeck was in his thirties at the time of the Depression. "I was a bindlestiff myself for quite a spell. I worked in the same country that the story is laid in. The characters are composites to a certain extent. Lennie was a real person. He's in an insane asylum in California right now. I worked alongside him for many weeks. He didn't kill a girl. He killed a ranch foreman. Got sore because the boss had fired his pal and stuck a pitchfork right through his stomach. I hate to tell you how many times. I saw him do it. We couldn't stop him until it was too late,” said John Steinbeck. …show more content…

John Steinbeck has unfolded his personality in his novel, Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck mentioned the idea of loneliness many times throughout the novel. Crooks was companionless, Curley’s wife was lonely, and most of the migrant workers travelled alone. “‘Come on in. If ever’body’s comin’ in, you might just as well.” It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger’(Steinbeck 73). Steinbeck revealed that Crooks only acted like he didn’t want company because he never had any. This could mean that Steinbeck was very lonely throughout life. Also, like many other migrant workers, George and Lennie had dreams about finding a forever “home.” Steinbeck went through the Great Depression and surely had visions of settling down into a nice home with lots of land. Seeing that Steinbeck grew up near Soledad, California, he probably even had a very similar dream to George and Lennie’s. Of Mice and Men was one of his first novels to be

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