Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

If the symbolism of the novel, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, could be characterized by one single theme, that theme would be isolation. Crooks explains, “A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothing to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too.

Loneliness Of Mice and Men The thundering foot steps race closer a shaking hand , loneliness praises on all its power unspoken and its pain unimaginable. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck loneliness has a massive impact on the characters of the story. Body Paragraph 1 George George is just one of the many characters that suffers from loneliness. George stated, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.

In the novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930s. He illustrates how people are driven to find companionship. Which he shows through Candy, Crooks, Curley’s wife, George and Lennie.

After he kills Lennie he is just like everybody else: lonely. Guys like George and Lennie “are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake, and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch” (Steinbeck 13). Nonetheless, George and Lennie were completely unique compared to the other men because they have each other. They are some of the only people on the ranch who have dreams and aspirations that they want to accomplish. For example having their own land, or as Lennie likes to call it “live off the fatta the land” (Steinbeck 14). They look out for one another and try to make sure that the other person is successful like brothers. An example of them looking out for each other would be when George and Lennie head over to the boss’ office to apply for the job. Before entering the room, George tells Lennie not to say anything for fear that he will lose his chances of obtaining the job. George even tells the boss how good of worker and how strong Lennie is. Lennie and George were also different from the rest of the men in a sense that they traveled together, which was unheard of back then. As stated by George innumerable times, they are different from the other men “because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look

In the whole book Of Mice and Men the main theme was either loneliness or isolation. Throughout the book each characters were feeling either lonely or isolated for an example Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife just to name a few.

John Steinbeck; the author of the realistic fiction novella, Of Mice and Men, creates an example of what Salina, North Carolina, along with the rest of the United States is like in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Steinbeck shows the hardships that men had to go through, and what woman and people of color had to endure. Lennie, a clueless man, has made some mistakes in his past and each timer George, his friend, who is more like his guardian has gotten him out of trouble. They have a fresh start and all Lennie has to do is keep out of trouble. At their new job there is Curley, the owner’s son, and his wife. There’s also Crooks, a black man, Slim, and Candy. Lennie and George have each other, but Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks feel lonely, and they lead towards desperate measures to avoid loneliness.

“Actually, feeling lonely has little to do with how many friends you have. It 's the way you feel inside. Some people who feel lonely may rarely interact with people and others who are surrounded by people but don 't feel connected” (Karyn Hall 2013). Truthfully, loneliness is something almost all people fear. It 's a deeper feeling then just being isolated. It 's feeling distant or disconnected from others. Loneliness is so much more than just feeling secluded, it 's feeling rejected by society, or even like an outcast. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck suggests that there is a deeper meaning to being lonely than just the superficial sense of

The theme of loneliness is pervasive throughout Of Mice and Men through Steinbeck’s word choice, especially in the case of isolation through profession, isolation from nature, and isolation at home. Through diction, Steinbeck portrays loneliness in George and Lennie’s professions. As migrant workers, their lives are extremely solitary. They must constantly shift through different areas of California, looking for temporary work. Also, these workers hardly have any fixed home. .

Loneliness can be caused from a lack of activity and communication with anyone. People become upset when their lives go downhill but if they do not do anything to change it then that is there own fault. In the book Mice and Men,John Steinbeck develops the concept of loneliness through Candy’s age, Crooks race and Curley’s wife’s gender in order to demonstrate that loneliness can cause people to act out and become depressed.

Candy’s dream is shown during the scene where Carlson threatens his old dog in the bunkhouse, when Candy says sympathetically, “ ‘ I had him from a pup.’ “(45). Candy is extremely attached to his dog; he feels security because the dog had become a part of his family. The significance of this is that Candy later after the death of his dog, is speaking with George and Lennie and says, “ ‘...i ain’t got no relatives nor nothing.’ “(59).

Loneliness “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty” (Mother Teresa). In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, many of the characters fight with loneliness. George, Crooks, and Curley's wife deal with loneliness throughout the novel. All they want is to feel wanted, accepted, and to know someone actually cares about them. John Steinbeck uses loneliness as one of his strongest themes in his novel, written during the Great Depression to emphasize the American society.

These two men have an aspiration of owning their own land and house which they call their dream ranch. After going through a multitude of jobs, many of which were lost due to Lennie, George and Lennie end up at Soledad Ranch in California looking for work. Here the two individuals meet the various members of the ranch such as, the stable buck, Crooks, the old swamper, Candy,

Loneliness is a trait of human nature that everyone has experienced in their lifetime and John Steinbeck makes a point of it in his novel. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck includes the theme of loneliness because no matter the situation that people are in, loneliness is inevitable. In John Steinbeck's novel there are, many instances of characters portraying their loneliness, isolation, and their search to escape from it. When the story first begins George, one of the main characters makes a long speech that is essentially about how he would prefer to be lonely and not have to always have Lennie depending on him, he states “...if I was alone I could live so easy.

People’s largest obstacles often lie solely in their minds. Loneliness, for example, at its greatest extent, can potentially drive people to extreme measures in order to extricate themselves from it. George Milton and Lennie Small, central characters in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, are nomadic workers in the fields of Californian ranches. The men are polar opposites; George is small, sharp, and quick-minded while Lennie is ponderous and intellectually disabled. However, the two are inseparable, sharing with each other the privilege of companionship. What compels them to continue seeking jobs and working is their enduring dream of a farm to themselves. As George and Lennie begin a new job on a ranch in the Salinas Valley of California, they befriend and come across numerous unique workers. Throughout the course of the novel, most of these ranchers exhibit traits that illustrate their lives of loneliness and lack of companions.

First, John Steinbeck uses Candy to show the failure of the American Dream. Candy's dream is to have friends and to live on the land of fatta with George and Lennie “You know where’s a place like that? Page 59” . Candy is an old man with a very old dog he has had since he was a puppy. Candy's dog was like his friend on the ranch the only.