Of Mice And Men By Jerry Steinback

Loneliness is one of the primary themes in Of Mice and Men. Throughout the novel, John Steinbeck shows the enormous effect that loneliness has on the characters. Steinbeck most clearly illustrates this theme through Crooks, Candy, and Curley 's wife. Ranch hands are ideal types of people to portray as being lonely, because their constant travel leaves them without someone to talk to or share things with. Steinbeck also shows how important it is for every human being to have a companion. Companionship is necessary in order for someone to live an enjoyable life. Although loneliness affects each one of the characters in Of Mice and Men differently, they all experience negative feelings from their lack of

Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being isolated or abandoned. Being lonely is almost always directly connected to relations between people, or the lack there of. Mother Teresa once said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” In John Steinbecks classic novel, Of Mice And Men, the three characters, Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy struggle with loneliness in different forms because of characteristics that they can’t control. All three characters deal with their loneliness by searching for companionship with others on the ranch and this works out differently for each of them.

“But, I 'm already resigned to this fate / Looking over my life, I recall / If it hadn 't been / for the loneliness / I 'd have no companion at all. ” This stanza from “Loneliness”, by Lora Colon evokes the negative impact a lonely fate has on a person. Words like “resigned” and “loneliness” establish a sense of depression and resignation. During the times of the Great Depression, many people felt similar feelings of melancholy and stoicism. Jobs were hard to come by, and realistic dreams of success were scarce. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, allows readers to see the life of the Great Depression. The two main characters, George and Lennie, search for jobs, like many other migrant workers. They dream of owning their own land, however, Lennie’s habit of getting in trouble prevents their dream from being reality. After he accidentally causes more trouble at their new job, George is forced to kill him out of mercy. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck shows that even if one meticulously plans out the road to their American Dream, fate will inevitably intervene and lead one to desolation and loneliness.

Are you really as lonely as you think you are? In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the two main characters Steinbeck focuses on, are George and Lennie. Lennie is very childish and cannot do things without someone to help him. George is very independent, but he looks after Lennie, and is like a father figure to Lennie. Lennie gets in trouble in there old town, so him and George leave town and go to find a new job. When they arrive at their new job, George tells lennie not to speak, so he doesn't blow their opportunity at this new job. After the ranchmen see Lennie work, they are very interested in having Lennie and George work on the ranch. Lennie later in the book, kills one of the worker's wives and runs away and hides. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the book focuses on the idea of loneliness, 3 characters that portray loneliness are George, Crooks, and Candy.

The novel, ‘Of Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinback, whom depicts how life was like for men and women in the 1930’s. From the outset, we were shown through the title itself ‘Of Mice and Men’ that the novel wouldn’t end well for George and Lennie. As this title was inspired by a Scottish poet whom said in his famous poem ‘To a Mouse’ ‘…the best laid schemes o’ Mice and Men, Gang aft agley’, conveys how no matter how well we may plan the future, things will often go wrong and obstacles will appear. Additionally, despite the American dream – the lack of hope, violence and harshness surrounding the men; gave a clear view into the lives of migrant workers such as George and Lennie. Portraying how the American dream is deemed unattainable for the men at the ranch, whom are destined to fall prey to a vicious cycle of harshness and violence – unable to escape from the world that they are living in.

The characters in Of Mice and Men experience loneliness in various ways to each other through the story. Many

In Steinbeck’s ‘of mice and men’ set in 1930’s, both Crooks and Curley’s wife are defenseless victims of social prejudice which leads to their sadness and depression. Crooks, being a black man is discriminated and segregated towards by all the other ranchers “They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black- Crooks” whereas Curley’s wife being a woman is expected to stay at home and take care of the house “Why don't she get the hell back in the house where she belongs- Carlson”. Furthermore Steinbeck as well as the ranchers view Curley’s wife as “trouble” in Candy’s words and she is later referred as ‘jail-bait’ and ‘tramp’ by other men. Consequently both Crooks and Curleys wife choose to express their hurt in different ways: Crooks holes up in his room with his books in order to escape the harsh reality where he is treated as an outcast while Curley's wife does so by clamoring for attention and desperately trying to be noticed either by creating ‘trouble’ or flirting with the ranchers.

One example of a characters conflict with loneliness is crooks. Crooks struggles with being alone every day, he has his own bunk house that he stays in because he is not allowed in the other one with the rest of the men because he is black. He gets hope when Lennie and candy tell him about their plan to buy their own land and move there but then he soon realizes they don’t want him to go and he returns to being lonely again. He is also

Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is a touching novel that reaches deep into our hearts. It is a tale two migrate farm workers by the name of Lenny and George struggling to maintain their friendship throughout the Great depression. They have been booted from their town due to a series of unfortunate happenings. Unlike other men these Lenny and George have something- companionship and a dream. Unfortunately the dream never becomes a reality: Lenny mental impairment causes him to accidently kill the boss’s son’s wife and eventually he is killed also. Lenny mental impairment causes him to do many things that play a large role in the novella. Lenny is not alone in the list of characters who posses impairment. Along side Lenny, Curly and his wife also have impairments that affect their role throughout the story.

“‘All the time he coulda had such a great time if it wasn’t for you. He woulda took his pay an’ raised hell in a whore house, and he coulda set in a poolroom an’ played snooker. But he got to take care of you.’” (Steinback, 1937 pg.101). In the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinback in 1937, Steinback focuses on the journey of two friends George and Lennie with a unique special bond. Throughout the novel, the two friends share one mutual dream as they work towards it. As the story progresses in the novel, new characters such as; Curley and his wife, Crooks, Candy and Slim are introduced as well as new challenges and problems for the two friends to face together or alone. Will they stay together in the end? Or part ways? In the novel, one of the recurring themes is dependence, which often shown when Lennie has to depend on George, Curley and his wife’s dependence on each other and Crooks on the factory.

In the story Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the author continuously reiterates the theme of loneliness throughout his story. On first reading Of Mice and Men, I thought it to be no more than just a story. After reading several literary criticisms and discussing it in class, however, I see that it is more critical of the theme of loneliness than I had originally thought. I agree with William Goldhurst that the image of Lennie’s death in Of Mice and Men is evidence of loneliness. Unlike William Goldhurst, however, I believe that this is only the plight of a singular group of people, and that not all men are doomed to the fate of loneliness as he suggests in his literary criticisms.

Looking back at the novel, one can see that loneliness derives from many factors. In Lennie’s case, it was his mental intellectual disability that separated him from the ranch-hands, including his so called “friend”, George. The death of Candy’s old dog deeply impacted Candy’s wellbeing, leaving him to grieve alone. On the other hand, Crooks suffered from racist remarks, and was subject to live alone, away from the other ranch-hands. These situations change one’s outlook on life, whether they know it or not.

Loneliness is a very prevalent theme in Of Mice and Men, it basically influences every character’s decision in the novel . Three characters are affected more than others, those characters are George and Lennie by having them stay together, Curley's wife by getting her killed, and Crooks the stable buck by making him have no dreams and think that no dreams come true. Loneliness makes George and Lennie stay together. This is important because it shows what the fear of loneliness will make the characters do, The fear of loneliness is so great for George ,that he would rather travel with a person who has a mental disability than to be alone .George even says, “When I think of the swell time I could have without you I go nuts” (Steinbeck 12).

The first example of loneliness is Crooks. This is first shown when Lennie walks into his room for the first time to be greeted with Crooks telling him that he doesn’t have any right to be in his room. This shows the fact that Crooks is so alone he doesn’t even want to talk to anyone. It also shows that he has been isolated and outcast completely from the rest of the farm workers he doesn’t even try to make friends anymore. Crooks once again shows his descent into isolation

Many of the characters do suffer from loneliness in the novel Of Mice and Men. George lets everybody know early on in the novel that he is lonely. When George reminds Lennie that "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” (Steinbeck Section 1). Men like George who travel from farm to farm usually never have anyone to look to for companionship and protection. As the story goes on, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife all state their deep loneliness. Crooks says, “A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick" (80). In a world with no friends to confide in, random people will have to do. Each of the characters search for a friend, someone to confide in and be able to talk to on an everyday basis, as Crooks says. In the end, however, companionship of Curley’s kind seems impossible to find. For George, when Lennie dies, George’s dreams and hopes of finding a companion disappears.