More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay On Character
Society during the depression era
The Great Depression and its impact on groups within its society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Of Mice and Men In the book of mice and men john steinbeck shows that self imposed loneliness and isolation make his characters unhappy. Every one becomes lonely once in awhile but, steinbeck illustrates the loneliness of the ranch life in the early 1930s. Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife all fight against isolation and loneliness. Candy is an old ranch worker who shows he is isolated because he lost his hand so he is unable to work alongside the other guys. Candy had an old sheep dog that stayed at his side he tells everyone “I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup.” When Carlson convinced Candy to let him shoot his old dog, Candy had nothing left to live for. When he lost his dog he lost his ambition with it. Candy keeps to
himself he says that "A guy on a ranch don't never listen nor he don't ast no questions." Curley’s wife did the exact opposite. Curley’s wife was the only women on the ranch. She gave up the movie star life to marry Curley and he kind of forces her into isolation by taking her to the ranch where no one will talk to her. "I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself." They make her seem like a person who is not important by not even giving her a name. It makes her seem like curley’s property. Curley's wife is really flirty and messes with all the farmhands. She is obsessed with herself and craves so much attention she ends up going to lennie who kills her. Lastly Crooks made himself lonely and isolated.
Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is a book that can be analyzed and broken down into a vast majority of themes. One of the predominant themes found in this book is loneliness. Many characters in this book are affected by loneliness and they all demonstrate it in one way or another throughout the book. Examples of these characters are Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and Candy.
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.
The implementation of isolation within the lives of John Steinbeck's characters in his novel Of Mice and Men allows him to discuss the effect isolation has on an individual's life. Through the characters of Lennie, Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife, Steinbeck is able to fully illustrate how isolation influences one's attitude towards life. Lennie, Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife all live a life led by isolation. Isolation interacts differently with each character, but ultimately negatively influences each of them. Although each of the characters in Of Mice and Men experience solitude, neither of them do so by choice. Steinbeck is able to demonstrate how the concept of loneliness is essential to the unfortunate but inevitable conclusion of the novel.
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.
"Were born alone we live alone die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that were not alone” Orson Welles. In this novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck focuses on the loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930’s. One of the most important things in the life is to have a friend, without friends people will suffer from loneliness like in this novel, not everyone in the novel has the same connection and special friendship like George and Lennie’s. Of Mice and Men is the story about lonely men who travel from ranch to ranch not really communicating with other ranch hands. Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife all were lonely and dealt with their loneliness in different ways.
Candy, the ranch handyman, lost his hand in an accident and worries about his future on the ranch. He fears that his age is making him useless and unwanted. Candy's age and handicap also contribute to his loneliness. Many of the men reject Candy because of these things and he fears that he will eventually come to the same end as his old dog. Candy is crushed by Lennie and George's dream to get their own piece of land and "live off the fatta the lan'". This dream lifted Candy's spirit and only set him up for a bigger disappointment. This made Candy not only a victim of loneliness, but also of disillusionment. He also feels the burden of loneliness and shows it by his relationship with his sheep dog. The dog, being described as “ancient”, “stinky”, and “half-blind”, had been in Candy’s life and his companion for a very long time and Candy had grown attached to it. He said he, "had him since he was a pup" and he used to "herd sheep with him." Once the other farmhands had finally gotten fed up with it and stated that the dog needed to be put out of its misery Candy was extremely reluctant to turn it over and let him go. After hearing the shot ring outside, all Candy could do was turn his face towards a wall and not look around. Certainly Candy found this dog to be a loyal companion of his and he had developed a strong relationship with it over the years, which helped him cope with his loneliness on the ranch. Whenever one is taking a deeper look at Of Mice and Men one will probably get a sense of how depressing the ranch really is. These are just a few examples of how different characters dealt with their loneliness.
The great and famous author john Steinbeck once said, “All great and precious things are lonely.” In the Steinbeck book Of Mice and Men, many of the characters show their loneliness in many different ways. Candy, Curley's wife, and Crooks all show perfect examples of how they are lonely. The characters in of mice and men show that loneliness is a problem that must be overcome in order to live a happy, fulfilled life.. all three of these characters know what is feels like to be lonely.
"Of Mice and Men" is a play written by John Steinbeck that focuses on life during the mid 1930's. This play has many recurring themes, and one of these themes is that of loneliness. This loneliness is because of the intolerance of society on those who are different. The underlying, yet stunningly obvious, theme of loneliness can be found in many characters with many examples. This loneliness due to isolation and intolerance is found in the characters of Candy, because he is old and useless; Crooks, because he is black and crippled; and Curley's wife, because she is a beautiful woman and the only girl on and all guy ranch.
Loneliness is a theme that is always visible when one reads Of Mice and Men, and the forms of loneliness discussed are still applicable to today’s life. Many of the characters admit to suffering from profound loneliness and it really captures the life people were living during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck uses this novel to uncover and chronicle the circumstances that cause human suffering during this era. Each character’s loneliness is relatable though, and can be empathized with even today.
We all know that every one becomes lonely once in a while. But in Steinbeck's novella "Of Mice and Men” it shows the loneliness of ranch life in the early 1930's. It also shows how people are trying to find friendship with other ranchers in order to escape from loneliness. Imagine if you had nobody to talk to. Loneliness is the basic message here in this story.
Mario Diaz. 1/4/17 The Of Mice and Men theme in the story was loneliness To start with Crooks is a lonely character in the novel Of Mice and Men. Crooks is lonely because he can’t hang with the guys because of his skin color and just stays in his room with barn animals.
The readers learn that Candy, “Had him since he was a pup” (44). Steinbeck illustrates the unimportance of the pup by never telling the readers it’s name. As a nameless character, the readers feel the sadness and loneliness of the dog. Also, just as George and Lennie have known each other for a long period of time, Candy has had his dog for the whole life of the dog. Comparing Lennie to the dog, Steinbeck foreshadows the life of Lennie. The dog dies from a gunshot and later in the novel, Lennie does too. Candy and George both lose their only companion and eventually, solitude becomes loneliness. After “a shot sounded in the distance”(49), Candy doesn’t say another word and “rolled over and faced the wall and lay silent”(49). During this time, Candy’s thought and feelings were expressed through his actions. He rolled over, away from others, and he was silent. Silence is a form of respect for the deceased and a sign of sorrow, so during this time, he was thinking of his old companion, whom he had lived nearly his whole life with. Now that he was gone, he goes back to a life of solitude. But when you have a companion, it’s hard to get rid of the feeling and be a lone wolf, and Candy is not able to be a lone wolf, having a companion had led to him not wishing to be alone. The readers know this because Candy asks to join Lennie and George in their goal of a farm,”s'pose I went in with you guys. That’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks I’d put in”. During this time, Candy misses the old companionship he had, so he goes to seek new companions, and in order to do that, he offers what he has to join them. This shows how desperate he is to have companions and how being alone and isolated is able to change someone’s
Candy is a sweet old man who cannot do much but, sweep the floor of the bunkhouse. Candy had an old dog who he had grown very close to, a companion. Many of the men in the bunkhouse despise the dog for being so old and smelly. Carlson suggests to Candy that the dog should be euthanized, Candy says yes but doesn't do so with a whole heart. As the dog is taken outside "Candy lay still looking at the ceiling. "
Loneliness is a power in itself. When you are lonely you realize what is really important to you, and you have time to think about your values. Your loneliness can become your greatest ally because you can grow stronger in yourself, and in turn, defeat a weaker individual. In Of Mice and Men, most characters use their isolation and loneliness to defeat a weaker character in the story.
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.