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The theme of loneliness in mice and men
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What is your biggest fear? For some it is being unsuccessful or being inadequate for others it is the idea of being lonely or being alone for a long period of time, how much will a person do to feel that happiness that all people strive to have? John steinbeck explores this grim motif about loneliness in his award winning novella “Of Mice and Men” which is about ranch hands set in the great depression who survive each day in the blistering hot california landscape which may have the answer to this difficult question, John steinbeck uses clever symbolism in his characters to illustrate his ideas about the motif through the people known as crooks, candy and curley's wife
Loneliness in Steinbeck's book is seen in almost every character but not as distinctive as seen with the character Crooks the stable buck. In Of Mice and Men, Crooks is used as a representation of what
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After lennie crushes curley's hand and all the men go into town to get a drink lennie stumbles into Crook’s living space in the barnhouse and the decrepit old stable buck exemplifies our motif. According to the text Crooks says “S’pose George don't come back no more. S’pose he took a powder and ain’t coming back. What’ll you do then?”. In this short excerpt Crooks faces lennie with the idea that George might not come back, as Crooks pushes this thought into lennie's mind he is really trying to make himself feel more powerful because he wants revenge those who discriminate and marginalize him in a act to achieve a personal victory. In lennie’s perspective if George never comes back he will never be able to tend to the rabbits the idea of this happening forces
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.
Other than when they are working, the other men shut Crooks out of all of their activities except the horseshoe games. Crooks are very isolated and not welcome in leisure activities. Crooks’ emotions are displayed to the reader when he talks to Lennie in his room about having no one to relate to and communicate with. He says: "Maybe you can see it now. " You got the George.
George and Lennie need each other to achieve their dream of their own farm with rabbits to tend. Lennie could not take care of his rabbits or even survive without George.
Lennie’s fear that George will leave him and his reliance on him is what makes him powerless. When George and the other ranch fellows, on a ranch, go out to a bar; Lennie meets Crooks, an isolated man. Lennie tell Crooks how he and George are such great friends and their plans together; however Crooks brings up the fear if George, “don’t come back no more… What’ll you do then?" (Steinbeck 39-40) Lennie is worried by the thought since for the first time he realizes how great he depends on George, which intensifies his fears. At t...
Crooks was excluded from the group and had his own barn which was his only freedom. When Crooks said “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ’cause you was black. How’d you like that? ” (Steinbeck 72), he wants to seek someone’s company like Lennie has George’s. Crooks threatened Lennie into the fact that George might not come back because he wanted Lennie to feel loneliness, but to his disappointment he was in vain. Crooks also conveys through his body language and the way he speaks that he doesn’t want to be excluded from the others and wants to participate in all the activities with them.
He is separated from everyone on the ranch because he is black. Everyone thinks he is gross and wants nothing to do with him. The narrator said “He kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs.”(67). No one was ever near him and he grew to enjoy that. Later when Lennie comes in his room they argue a little bit but the Crooks says, “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he's gonna come back, s'pose you didn't have nobody” (72). He is trying to explain to Lennie that he doesn't have anyone like George. No one has ever been there for him. After him and Lennie get into an argument about if George is going to come back for him, Crooks says, “I didn't mean to scare you. he’ll come back. I was talkin’ about myself” (73). Crooks didn't mean to scare Lennie, he just knows from experience that most people don't come back. they just leave and move on with their life as a ranch person.
Whether you are being left out or ignored, or the person who receives all the attention, everyone gets lonely sometimes. Everyone feels left out at times. Sometimes it’s being left out by choice or just being forgotten by others. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, every character relates to the theme of loneliness in their own way. George’s desire for family, Lennie’s mental disability, and Candy’s physical disability leads to the loneliness of these characters.
In the historical overview that called for this analysis on Imperialism, it is vital to sketch briefly the origin and nature of British Imperialism, and its course from 1890 to World War I. In the later part of the 19th century, two significant events affecting this course took place, one in Germany, one in England. Bismarck in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, crowned the German King Emperor of Germany at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. In England, Disraeli made Victoria, Queen of England, the Empress of India and the British Empire.
Because of Lennie’s disability it is shown he is much different than the other men on the ranch. He fails to change his wrong actions but he remembers the words he is told. All throughout George and Lennie’s journey Lennie lives to one day finally “tend the rabbits”. Lennie because he is mentally slow he acts as a child would. As well the other men exclude Lennie from hangouts and activities.
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. There are pieces of this idea in every character that is in this book from the smallest ones like the boss or the main characters like George. There are two characters that lack the character to even have anyone around.
Loneliness Even though you may be surrounded by people you can still feel alone. In the novel, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, all the men on the farm were alone, even though they were all together. Even our main characters, George and Lennie, are alone in this story. Although they are together, they still feel alone. When we are introduced to the men on the farm, our first impression of them is that they are lonely.
Of Mice and Men is a 1937 published novella by John Steinbeck. It reveals the story of two migrant workers, Lennie, a mentally unstable character, and George, who make their way to a ranch in California, where the novel is set, to find employment during the great economic depression. Steinbeck reveals the theme of loneliness throughout the novel in three characters in particular, Curley’s wife, Candy and Crooks, who all happen to take on the role as misfits in the novel. Using the theme of loneliness, Steinbeck manages to highlight other issues in US-society during the late 20s. As the novel starts and Lennie and George arrive in the ranch, the reader encounters Curley’s wife and realises that she is lonely.
“Loneliness is the ultimate poverty. "-Pauline Phillips. Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men agrees with her statement, the book clearly shows that loneliness and isolation is the worst feeling someone can have. Crooks says “I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick”(73)
“A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is… I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick (Steinbeck 72-73). The theme of loneliness is revealed here in John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men. In the 1930’s during the Great Depression, loneliness was a very common feeling. Because stock markets crashed and crops died, desperate for work many men traveled as migrant workers, looking for work.
The biggest disease known to mankind is loneliness. Many characters in Of Mice and Men have been desensitized to loneliness because they live on a farm, in a little town named Soledad, and are used to being isolated. In the novel, John Steinbeck uses his characters to portray a theme of lonesomeness and what can happen as a result. Much of the isolationism in Of Mice and Men is evident through the characters. Crooks, a stable buck on Curley’s farm, lives in his own room and gets treated differently from the others because of his skin color.