Loneliness is described as the feeling we have when our need for social contact and relationships isn't met; whereas, true friendship may be defined as mutual unconditional love. Published in 1937, John Steinbeck's most important and influential novel, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great Depression in the United States. Where many people struggle to find work and make ends meet. The harsh realities of the characters and their circumstances, along with their flaws and limitations, make them feel isolated and alone. Through Steinbeck’s use of Crooks, Curlys wife, and George and Lennie, he shows friendship and loneliness as both relatable and serious experiences. As the only black man on the ranch, Crooks is not allowed into the bunkhouse with the others and …show more content…
Henceforth, the fact that she did not like Curley and the type of man he was. While speaking to Lennie, she confessed “Well I ain't told this to nobody before.I don't like Curley” (Steinbeck 87). She says that when Curley does speak to her, he talks only about fighting. In addition to this, her dissatisfaction with her marriage manifests flirtatiousness with the other men on the ranch. The main characters in this novel, George and Lennie, also display a strong example of loneliness in the real world. George and Lennie show just how much of an impact loneliness can have. They are migrant workers who travel from place to place with nowhere to truly call home. Because they feel as though they do not belong anywhere, they experience loneliness in their lives. “Guys like us got no family.but not us, because I got you and you got me” (Steinbeck 104). Although they traveled around a lot, they still traveled together whereas most of the other ranch workers traveled alone. This sort of harmony can bring jealousy from the other characters in the novel. “You got George,” he
In his novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930s. He illustrates how people are driven to find companionship. There were so many moments of loneliness and sadness throughout the novel, including many deaths. Following the deaths, they were very unexpected making the novel more intense and latch onto it more.
One main theme in Of Mice And Men is loneliness. George and Lennie have have just sat down to eat their dinner, when Lennie asks George to talk about their life in the future. George complies, and also describes their current situation. Steinbeck writes, “ Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They don't got no family. They don't belong no place.” (Steinbeck 13). George is speaking of the life of people in the 1930’s. Loneliness is a common trait amongst people, especially migrant workers. They have no family to travel with, and no friends. The only true friends George and Lennie have are each other. Crooks is another
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 to town.
Throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men (by John Steinbeck), loneliness is the major underlying theme of the novel. You could almost say that the book has hormonal' up's and down's. Most of the characters are very lonely because they have no family. However, George and Lennie are the contradiction to this. George and Lennie's bond towards each other are so- strong that you can almost see it as you are reading the book. Candy the old crippled man wants to be part of George and Lennie's dream to own a farm and "live off the fatta the land". Curley and his dog are like the metaphor in the book for George and Lennie. Candy has to take care of his dog and George of Lennie. The other two characters in the novel that are apart of the overall theme of loneliness are crooks the crippled stable buck and Curley's wife the flirtatious city girl. Crook's fits in to the loneliness theme because he is black. During this time in history, there was very little racial empathy. So being black means that he is isolated from everyone else at the ranch. Speaking of isolation, curley's wife feels very isolated because her husband, Curley, doesn't trust her at all, however, because Curley is so strict and concerned about her flirting with other guys it almost fuels her desire to cause trouble.
Explore the implications of loneliness in John Steinbeck’s novel Of. Mice and Men. In the light of the American economic collapse, there was a significant number of itinerant workers, who lived in a nomadic lifestyle, migrating in search of jobs. This continuous migration deter them from building substantial relationships. Due to the lack of companionship and depression of the era, it appears that the characters are bound to loneliness. Most of the characters in John Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is caught in the trap of.
People crave interaction with others to give life a meaning. The necessity of companionship can be observed in John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men. It is the story of two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, and their rough experience on a ranch right outside of Soledad, California. George and Lennie travel together and depend on each other, which is unheard of when it comes to migrant workers during the Great Depression. Everyone they come into contact with on the ranch feels a sense of isolation from the other workers as well as from society. Steinbeck wants to draw attention to the hardships of the migrant workers in hopes to induce reform to the system. Steinbeck uses the isolation and companionship to effectively expose
In the masterful story Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck there is a looming theme of loneliness. This theme is told to you through the words and actions of the characters in the story . This story is told through two characters Lennie and George. The setting is 1930’s America. The story involves traveling ranch workers that live only for the one purpose to get paid and waste their money on a few drinks and some pleasure. These men are consumed with loneliness. The care for nothing but themselves. They are very unlike George and Lennie who have each other and a dream. Lennie is a big man with the brain of a child. Lennie never meant to hurt anybody but managed to get himself and his only true friend George into trouble. George is a small smart man who has known Lennie all his life and knows to well that Lennie could not survive on his own lets him travel with him as a favor too Lennie’s aunt
“I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin’ to fight all the time” (Steinbeck 41).In the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, many characters, like Crooks and Curley, live forced lives of loneliness.
Of Mice and Men Bob has a horrible life. He has no money and his time is consumed with drinking alcohol. He sleeps on the street and is miserable and lonely. This is how he lives because he spent the best part of his life searching for the American Dream. Bob is not the only person who’s life has been ruined by the American Dream.
In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men he uses Lennie and George’s relationship and dream of owning land, to portray a theme of loneliness. Lennie and George are different from the others in the ranch because they have each other and are pursuing their dream which is to own their own land. Candy an old and lonely man who just lost his dog which Steinbeck uses as a reflection of Candy’s loneliness and old age is intrigued by the two he joins in on their dream of a better life “S'pose [I] went in with you guys. This’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks [I’d] put in” (59).
Someone to talk to too, someone who listens, understands, and can connect to you. This is a friend. Friendship is the source of happiness and can change a bad day into a good one at any given moment. Although many people don’t have any form of friendship at all. In fact many feel very unhappy because they are lonely.
George’s outlook on life is bitter and he harbors deep suspicion towards other people due to his feelings of loneliness and feelings of alienation. When George and Lennie first arrive at the ranch’s bunkhouse, the boss conducts an impromptu “interview. Candy,the swamper at the ranch, led the boss into the bunkhouse,and waited outside. George display’s his suspicion towards Candy by stating that he doesn’t appreciate people “poking” their “big ears into” their “business(Steinbeck 24). Later Curley,the son of the boss,comes into the bunkhouse a while later after the boss left.
Everybody has felt loneliness at some point in his or her life but never felt it for such a long period of time. People that are lonely sometimes want a partner or companionship. In Steinbeck's novel of Mice and Men, the book is surrounded by characters who are lonely and want companionship but never can get what they want. The time period of this story is during The Great Depression creating a sense of loneliness since people of this time couldn't afford jobs and people with families could barely support their family members. Even though the idea of being alone is recurring in the novel, concept of “having someone” shows throughout the novel as well because no one really had someone to rely on except for Lennie and George, Crooks being the only one being by himself in the
In Spanish, Soledad means loneliness, which is only fitting for the book’s setting: Soledad California. Loneliness is the act of being sad and isolated. During the Great Depression people were alone and in financial travesty. By the 1930’s, the Ku Klux Klan was at its most powerful state, the Jim Crow laws were still in place, and lynchings were at their height. At the same time women had only gained the right to vote 10 years ago and voting laws made it almost as hard as possible for them to be able to vote.
In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck pairs the themes of loneliness and friendship, portraying friendship as a way of escaping the life that many characters live. George and Lennie illustrate this as neither of the pair encounter that much loneliness in the novella. Furthermore they “look after each other” as George states in the novelette. However, in Of Mice and Men, no one is really alone because all the characters work and live close together yet they experience several accounts of loneliness. Loneliness is clearly pointed out in the novel as a main theme, and one that is accounted by most people in the novel, because George states that ranch workers “are the loneliest guys in the world.”