The Role Of Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Ashlyn Watkins Professor Cherry Comp 2 The novel, Of Mice and Men, portrays the need for friendship and belonging. Steinbeck writes about the era of the Great Depression and how two men, Lennie and George, work together through their tough times through life. Lennie has cognitive delays and George feels a deep sense of responsibility toward him while caring for him much like a brother. They have gone from place to place to find work while keeping a close bond between each other. The place they stumble on seems to be a good fit until the need for companionship, belonging, and love takes place and begins to create problems.

The motif loneliness is explored throughout John Steinbeck's novella, Of Mice and Men, not only with the main characters, but the secondary characters as well. Crooks, the stable hand, is a colored, which makes all the others on the ranch want to have nothing to do with him. Similarly, Candy is outed since he is an old cripple. Curley’s wife is given similar treatment since, she is a women. Of Mice and Men has many examples of discrimination.

He is constantly isolated. Even his wife does not want to spend time with him. Inside of the barn during a heart to heart conversation with Lennie, Curley’s wife reveals that she “don’ like Curley” because he “ain’t a nice fella” (86). Know wonder Curley is insecure in his marriage! His wife not only does not

Through the use of the character's mannerisms, Steinbeck portrays loneliness and the need for companionship. The first way Steinbeck uses the character’s mannerisms is through isolation and sorrow. On page

“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for”(Marley). In the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George goes through a series of events with his friend Lennie, but even in the worst situations George stays by his side. Steinbeck demonstrates to us that throughout the story George and Lennie hold a true friendship. George and Lennie show that in order to survive, they need to stay with each other.

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck addresses the theme of loneliness and isolation. The novel tells the story of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, who while traveling together chase the American Dream. This becomes difficult because society misunderstands Lennie’s thought process. This gets him into trouble that George has to get him out of. This connection George and Lennie shared was rare for workers during this era. Migrant workers never stayed in one location for too long. They also traveled by their lonesome. Not only this, but many people were also social outcasts and shunned by society. Steinbeck establishes the theme of loneliness and isolation, a very common problem throughout the Great Depression, by telling of those that are alone and others actions towards them.

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.

Many of the characters in the novel are isolated and openly discuss their feelings of loneliness and i think that most of them feel that way because the guys travel by themselves and that's one of the reasons they may feel lonely. They also might feel lonely because they don't even have a home or a place they could call their own. The reason why I think a majority of them are lonely though is because they don't have families and just having a family and spending time with them makes you feel better and since they don't have a family is probably why most of the men spend their time at susy's place. Another one of the reasons why i think that most of the men and even the people that work at the ranch are lonely is because they have almost absolutely nothing.

Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks undergo loneliness and discrimination during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men has three characters that, like so many people during the 1930s, experience harrowing times of isolation and discrimination from everybody else during those times. Notably, the theme of loneliness is expressed and felt in the novella Of Mice and Men through the isolation and discrimination of Steinbeck’s characters. In chapter

George loves to talk to Lennie about their dream ranch and how they are going to work for it. Both Lennie and George love to have each other, but later in the book George loses Lennie, he loses him by killing him. George says “guys like us are the loneliest people in the world but with us it aint like that”(32). This maybe could have explained why George had to kill him, because of how he felt about him and thought what was best for the both of them. Later in the book George does kill Lennie, he had to kill him because it was best for him in that situation, Lennie knew that he would think about it his whole life killing his best friend, his only best friend on the

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a classic among American literature and is regarded as an important novel in American literature. It is an effective novel that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat as it goes through The Great Depression with George and Lennie and their dream of owning a farm and how it is tragically ruined. One of the most important topics of the novel is loneliness and how it affects characters in the book. Loneliness affects the characters by their happiness and their bitterness. This can be seen through Crooks, Curly’s wife, and Candy readers see these characters go through loneliness and how they deal with their loneliness.

In the story Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, the two main characters of the story are George and Lennie. The central point of the book is their unusual relationship. Their relationship establishes one of the most important themes of the novel, the importance of companionship and loneliness. Their relationship helped me to understand that they both rely upon their friendship to survive as they are completely different from each other. Lennie depends upon his friendship with George to make the correct decisions. George relies upon the friendship with Lennie to plan for the future. This helps me to understand that we are all aware of the value of friendship and loneliness especially during difficult times.

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is considered one of his best and finest novels of all times. The novel is about two ranch workers, Lennie Small and George Milton, who travel around searching for jobs during the 1930’s. Our main characters go through major conflicts, especially Lennie, who apparently suffers from some kind of mental illness, and at the same time, George gets dragged down because of the problems Lennie causes along the way. Many of Steinbeck’s novels dealt with social issues, especially Of Mice and Men, which dealt with racism, isolation, poverty and loneliness. Loneliness has been developed throughout the entire novel, and the way the author displayed this social issues is through characterization techniques. To show us that we, as humans, fear loneliness in order to survive, or in order to feel “alive”.

He felt ashamed after George lectured him about their previous job. George shouted at Lennie about having to hide in an irrigation ditch after dark and sneak out of the country (Steinbeck 11). This quote shows Lennie doesn't always know what he does wrong, but when he's told, it can make him feel upset and lonely. Next, Lennie realizes what he has done wrong. He panics, telling himself had done another bad thing before running away (Steinbeck 92). This quote indicates how Lennie feels alone and separate from everyone else when he sees what he has done wrong. Lastly, he misunderstands himself and his strength. George explained to the other men, "Lennie was just scairt. He didn't know what to do. I told you nobody ought never to fight him" (Steinbeck 65). This passage suggests that Lennie feels misunderstood and even lonely due to the fact that he gets scared, hurts others, and is unaware of how strong he is. Loneliness is shown in a unique way through Lennie in the novel.

A piece of text from the book Of Mice and Men says that, “Guys like us got no family. They make a little stake an’ then they blow it. They ain’t got nobody in the worl’ that gives a hoot in [heck] about ‘em” (Steinbeck 104). Therefore, George was pointing out to Lennie that they have what most guys in their time period don’t, they have each other and George is telling Lennie that that’s how he wants it to stay. George doesn’t want to kill Lennie, but he feels like has to. George is going to regret this in his future. A different quote I found is when George and Lennie are talking, “Lennie said ‘I thought you was mad at me, George.’ ‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s the thing I want ya to know’” (Steinbeck 106). Therefore, this quote tells us that George doesn’t want to kill Lennie, but he feels as if he needs to. Lennie was George’s only family and George wants Lennie to know that before he kills him. George cares about Lennie and George is not going to be happy after Lennie is gone for a little bit. The act of George killing Lennie is