Loneliness, something every human wants to avoid. The setting of the story takes place in Soledad, California during the great depression era. Lennie is isolated for being mentally ill, Crooks is isolated because of his race, And Curley’s Wife because of how she acts. Imagine being discriminated against because of your ethnicity; or being the only woman on a ranch, stuck in a loveless marriage, when all you really want is someone to talk to. In “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck portrays loneliness in Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife, leaving the readers wondering about the unrealistic reality of the American dream. Lennie is described as a strong man though he is not in control of his strength. He is simple-minded and acts as he is a little kid in a man's body. …show more content…
Lennie feels lonely because he has no one that truly understands how he feels, besides George. Lennie and George have a close relationship, he says “Because I got you to look after me and you got me to look after you”. Crooks is segregated for a clear reason, the color of his skin. He is the only black man on the ranch so he has to take care of himself, “I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse…cause I'm black”. He has his own place in the barn with the animals on the ranch. When Lennie enters the room he talks to him about his dream farm, Crooks gets interested and asks about helping at the farm. His dream of working at the farm is shattered when Curley’s Wife tells him that he will be lynched, meaning he will be put back into his “place”. He informs the men that he was out of place asking about the farm because of how nicely they were treating him. Curley’s Wife is the only woman on the ranch leaving her lonely, Curley is no help. She is self-absorbed and tries to dress to impress the men at the ranch. At every chance she gets she talks about her lost
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.
Loneliness in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck This book is set in a deserted, lonely country. The individuals in the stories are isolated by particular features such as age, gender, disability. and race to the end. They appear to relate to each other, however, each is.
Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men Conveys loneliness throughout the story by the events like loss of hope, loved ones, and past events. This reason is explained by the lives of these three characters, Lennie, by him being alone in the barn, Curley’s dislike for him, and him killing Curley’s wife. Candy, by his dead dog, insertion of George and Lennie’s dream and the death of Curley’s wife, and Curley’s wife by messing with the men, unable to be an actress, and her own death.
know how powerful he is and likes to pet animals. The other men on the
... and feels uncertain of his future in the ranch. For Crooks, it was being segregated from the rest of the workers that made him lonely. And for Curley’s wife, it was the inability to talk to anyone else other than her husband. For George, the hope of such companionship dies with Lennie, and true to his original estimation, he will go through life alone.
The theme of loneliness is important to the meaning of Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, and the side characters of the novella feel loneliness just as much as the main characters. Crooks has been lonely for a long time, and his secluded nature starts to show. Curley’s Wife is lonely as well because of her feminine nature and marriage with Curley. Loneliness is also evident in Candy, and just as he thinks he has found a home, all his hope of companionship is ripped away. Crooks, Curley’s Wife, and Candy are not like the other characters of this book. All three of them have some feature that sets them apart from the others. Crooks is African American, Curley’s Wife is a woman, and Candy lost his hand. These traits have separated these characters
family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a
Mother Teresa has once said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” Loneliness is sadness because one has no friends or company or the quality of being unfrequented and remote. This quote relates to the theme of loneliness as portrayed by the characters in Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men. Although some view George and Lennie as victims of loneliness, Steinbeck suggests that they are Crooks and Curley’s wife because they both suffer from isolation.
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
“‘Don’t you go yellin,’ he said, and he shook her and her; body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” (Steinbeck 91). The 1937 novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck follows the friendship of two men George Milton and Lennie Small and their struggle during the 1930s Great Depression. George is a small man intelligent man with sharp features while Lennie is a large but very childlike man with wide shoulders and dull features. The two men wind up on a farm working alongside other men. The men face a few different challenges while working on this farm. People who are lonely cope with it by acting differently. In the novel multiple characters struggle with loneliness such as Crooks, Lennie and Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife feels lonely for a few different reasons.
“A guy needs somebody- to be near him… don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you… I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (Steinbeck 72-73). Loneliness is a powerful theme in Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men. Set in the late 1930s during the Great Depression, many of his characters experience discrimination and isolation. In this novella, George and Lennie are migrant workers, and they arrive in Soledad, California, where they found a job. The only female on the ranch is married to Curley, the boss’s son; consequently, she is isolated and faces prejudice attitudes from the men. Two other characters, Candy, the old swamper on the ranch, has only one hand, and Lennie, who is mentally slow, are also both discriminated
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.
Every human needs a friendship in their lives. Friendships help to prevent loneliness, and without them, people don’t live their best lives. Having no friendships forces people to keep their feelings inside. Many characters in Of Mice and Men, such as Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, don’t have friendships in this novel. In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, characters such as Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife show that lack of friendship can make a lonely person because they can't share their feelings.
In the touching and gripping tale of John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he explains many themes throughout the books. One of the major themes is loneliness, which is shown throughout many different characters, for example, Curley’s wife, the stable buck (Crooks), and Lennie.