Essay on Theme of Loneliness in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

  Mother Theresa once said, "Loneliness is a man's worst poverty." Without friends and companions, people begin to suffer from loneliness and solitude (Dusenbury 38). Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life and cannot be avoided, as shown prevalent through each of the characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Each and every character in this novel exhibits loneliness. Lennie was isolated for being mentally handicapped, Candy was isolated for being old and disabled, Crooks was for being black, Curley's wife for being a woman, and George for having to care for Lennie and being unable to socialize with others because of Lennie's consistency of getting into trouble from town

George is one of people in the ranch that had big goals to achieve, but he couldn’t accomplish any of them because of Lennie. George taking care of Lennie affects his dreams in a big way because every time George gets closer to his dreams Lennie completely ruins it. In the story it states George saying “ dumb bastard likes to touch everything he likes”(steinbeck 41). This is very important because this shows how childish lennie acts. The most important thing to him was to have dreams to have a farm and his own place with Lennie. This quote “ we got a future “ (Pg . 14) shows that he had a dream worth living for. Another way George had gotten his dreams taken away was when Lennie killed their boss’s wife. I know that George was a very lonely person because in the story he talks about guys like him in the ranch . “ guys like us , that work on a ranch are the loneliest guys in the world” (Pg . 13). This is very important because it shows his feelings towards being lonely.

“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.

Lastly Lennie and George did not get the dream of living on the farm like they wanted because lennie died. “He pulled the trigger; lennie jarred, then settled forward in the sand; and he lay without quivering” (Steinbeck 117). Lennie and George had a huge dream about living on the farm. George made decision to help his best friend to save him. After the fact is that he died and then they lost the dream of ever living on the farm. In the last chapter is states that lennie died. This is a huge part of the book, because George and lennie had the dream to live on the farm and to live a life where they wouldn’t be judged for the way that they are. This shows that even for best friends Steinbeck does not support the American Dream. Their dream at ever living on the farm is a zero chance, how could George go on and live on a farm after he killed his best friend in order to save him from having a painful death.

     There is only one thing in life that is really needed and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-estee. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all show some form of loneliness. They are curious of George and Lennie’s friendship because they do not have that support in their life. Through his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck demonstrates that many times, a victim of loneliness will have a never-ending search to fulfill a friendship.

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.

We live in a world of dreams and desire to achieve, but sometimes we end up without achieving them. Therefore, Steinbeck brought this clearly as we see Lennie died without actually achieving his dreams. Also friendship has been expressed as the main theme in the novel. Despite the difficult moments they went through, George and Lennie’s friendship is all against the challenges. The two shared well dreams and loved one another so much. This is a great virtue even in modern

In Of Mice and Men, there are an abundance of themes throughout the novel. One of those themes is friendship which is shown clearly though George. In the novel, when Lennie says, “Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you.” (Steinbeck 14) shows how close of friends George and Lennie are. They rely off of each other because George physically helps Lennie, and Lennie helps George mentally to not be as grim. However, another on of the themes is loneliness. Although George has Lennie, he can get lonely because he does not have anyone else to talk to. George is not the only who is lonely because Curley’s wife also shows that she is lonely when she says, “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (Steinbeck 77) When Steinbeck was writing his novel, he wants readers to understand even though our best friends are loyal, they need other people to talk to and will at sometime lose

How true is the statement "Guys like us are the loneliest guys in the world"

had an old dog at the beginning on the novel .He had this dog for a

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that” (Steinbeck, 15). As we follow Lennie and George on their journey towards what they consider to be the dream life, the audience comes to learn along with the characters that dreams are not all they’re cracked up to be and sometimes the most rewarding goal in life is one which has already been achieved. The two main characters in the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck are poor farm workers who hope to one day own their own farm and become self-sufficient. What they never realize is that the most important thing they can ever have is each other. Despite their periodic quarrels, Lennie

One of the main themes John Steinbeck revolves around in his book, Of Mice and Men mainly has to do with loneliness and friendship. Lennie and George, the two main characters, have a strong brotherly bond that goes way back to when they were young. This book really stresses how Lennie and George are very different from the other ranchers. They stick together rather than being independent and solitaire: “With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jacks jus’ because we got no place else to go. (14)”’ They both stick together and support each other while working towards their dream of having their own farm: “… I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you… (14)”’ The other characters don’t have this kind of bond with anyone. Characters such as Candy or even Curley’s wife either lost their best friend or was not allowed to talk to anyone except her husband. These two characters openly share their feelings of loneliness with George and/or Lennie throughout the book, resulting in false hope, lies, and murder…

He says to Lennie that he reads books all the time, but he also says “Books

The book Of Mice And Men is set a few miles south of Soledad, which

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.