The Theme Of Loneliness In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

A high school girl carried her feet along into the cafeteria, half past noon. Blue denim jeans and a chunky sweater is her outfit. She finds the nearest empty table, which happens to be in the corner, takes out her lunch and starts munching along. Not much expression is found on her face. A blank stare the whole forty minute lunch. It looks like she doesn’t have many people to talk to. This girl must be lonely. She is not the only person who experiences loneliness. Being lonely is extremely common. Loneliness is a major theme throughout the story, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. In the 1930s, Steinbeck powerfully portrays many characters to be lonely, which causes people to have depression and anger.

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” (Steinbeck 13). This is said by George Milton in the novella Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men takes place in California during the Great Depression. Loneliness reoccurs several times because people do not stay at a work place long enough to make friends and usually travel alone. Loneliness is the main theme of Of Mice and Men because many characters deal with being lonely in different ways. It affects people who are looked down on because of their gender, race, and ability.

Understanding just how important security is to his own future, Candy hopes he can tempt George with his life’s savings and seal the deal when he mentions he had no living relatives to either help him or benefit from his death. Scared and embarrassed, Candy never comes straight out and admits how ageism has affected him, but he does express his feelings of fear and his desire to feel like he belongs when he comments to George, “They’ll can me purty soon. Just as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunkhouses…” (60). Without any family or friends, without a job or any money, Candy latches on to the idea of owning land together: “An’ it’d be our own, an’ nobody could can us” (58). Unfortunately, since Candy is much older than the other ranch workers, he often feels left out and lonely amongst a group of young, healthy men. Despite his insecurities, Candy still wants to contribute something to society to help provide him with a sense of purpose and to help make him feel like someone still needs him.

That was his only companion, and even though it was old he still had love for it. Carson took Candy’s only friend away when he killed it. Later on , Candy overheard Lennie and George talking about their dream of getting a house and chimed in the conversation. Since it was just him by myself now he wanted to make their idea of buying a house possible and join them, Candy says “ S’pose I went in with you guys. Thas three hundred an’ fifty bucks and I’d put in. I ain’t much good but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be ?” (Steinback 59) In the book it’s obvious Candy didn’t approve of his dog getting killed at all , and was sad about it. Slim tries to make light of the situation and says, “Candy you can have any one of them pups you want… Candy did not answer” (Steinback 48) . After the problem with Lennie killing Curley’s wife he still tried to bring up him and George still getting that house with the little bit of hope left he had. Candy asks George, “ You an’ me can get that little place, can't we, George ?” (Steinbeck 100)

Loneliness can affect people in many different ways. Loneliness can make you feel dismal. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife all show some form of loneliness. All these characters have one thing in common, they are all isolated. Candy is older than others, Crooks are the only African American, Curley's wife is the only woman.

Loneliness reaches all aspects of a person’s normal life. It can affect the decisions someone makes and the possibilities they can achieve. In John Steinbeck’s Novel “Of Mice and Men”, the story revolves around an unlikely pair, who move around the country trying to find a job during the events of the Great Depression. Of all the characters in this novel, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife, are the loneliest.

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.

In Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, many of the characters are overtaken by loneliness. This story takes place around the 1930s in a time where it was very difficult to make a living, let alone have a social life. Curley’s wife, Crooks, and George are all faced with this loneliness mentioned inside this fiction tragedy, and continually seek new friendships and acceptance among each other. As described Curley’s wife was, “heavily made up.

In our lifetimes, we all have experienced loneliness. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, loneliness affects the characters in his story. The story takes place around the 1930 where 2 men ,George and Lennie, try to find work but struggle because of Lennie’s disability. Through the theme of “Individual fear loneliness” there are many branches that can answer the question of how and why they fear loneliness. The three characters that show loneliness in this story are George, Lennie, and Curley's wife.

“A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody...I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (Steinbeck 72-73), Crooks, an african american migrant worker, explains. Loneliness is a powerful theme in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Being lonely, whatever race, gender, or belief, will make anyone go to the point of insanity where it will affect you and those around you. Taking place in the 1930’s, during the time of the Great Depression. Migrant workers commonly traveled alone at the time in search of work. But George and Lennie, the main characters of this novella, are migrant workers who travel together. Steinbeck shows how these two men stand out from the others because they look out of each other. Candy, an old migrant worker, and Crooks, an african american migrant worker also play an important role in Of Mice and Men. Both of these characters reveal how George and Lennie’s relationship is different from the rest which helps them able to have the American Dream that is so desired by everyone at the time. Consequently, the theme of loneliness is revealed in the novella through the isolation felt by Candy, Crooks, and Lennie.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a literary masterpiece that paints a vivid picture of American life during the Great Depression. There are many recurring cycles, or themes, apparent in the novel. Three of these are loneliness, the American dream, and human nature. Using these cycles, Of Mice and Men offers a look back at the harsh reality faced by the American people who were living during the Great Depression. Steinbeck articulates the feelings of struggling Americans during that time in his spectacular novel.

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.

Steinbeck has depicted the idea of isolation, companionship, and loneliness through the setting of "Of Mice and Men." During the Great Depression it seemed as if the attachment was abnormal. Talking about how different they are, Lennie states, "We got each other, that’s what gives a hoot in hell about us"(Steinbeck 104). Lennie's quote suggests that Lennie and George were companions, through the passion over their friendship amongst them. Unlike other peers, they were not alone, nor isolated. Working and traveling alone is all most men had ever known. Almost all characters relied on themselves when it came to support. With that being said, they didn't travel together or depend on one another due to their reoccurring fear of becoming isolated(Steinbeck).

The definition of loneliness,“Sadness because one has no friends or company.” Carlson shoots Candy’s dog, Crooks is the only black man on the ranch, and Curley’s wife is treated like a nobody. There are many character in this novel that are lonely, for example Crooks. He is the only black man on the ranch and usually excluded from the activities of the white men. Being the only female on the ranch Curley’s wife feels alone but not as much as Candy.

Candy also portrays loneliness during the story.In the beginning of the novel the other ranchmen coax Candy into letting them kill his dog, considering it’s in the way and smells. He gives in and Carlson use his lugger to kill the dog in the back of the head. Candy sits and ponders, wishing that he was killed instead of his dog saying, “You see what they did to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor anyone else. When they came here I wisht somebody’d shoot me” (Steinbeck) Candy views himself as useless and worries that eventually he will be kicked off the ranch just how his dog