Loneliness, Powerlessness, And Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The 3 themes in “Of Mice And Men” are loneliness, powerlessness, and dreams often fail.

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

Lennie, Crooks, and Candy are all sitting in Crooks’ room, when Curley’s wife comes in. She makes a rude comment about the group. Steinbeck writes, “her eyes traveled from one face to another. ‘They left all the weak ones here” (Steinbeck 77). Curley’s wife isn't wrong. All of the characters in the room have forms of powerlessness. The first character is Lennie. Due to his IQ disability, Lennie would probably be dead or in a horrible situation if he didn't have George looking after him. Sure, Lennie is physically strong, but his memory impairs him from doing basic things. He is powerless without George. Crooks is also powerless in many situations. Being african american, Crooks has no say in any of the decisions on the farm. This is evident when Curley’s wife threatens to get him fired. Crooks has to be respectful to everyone, and take orders from everyone, or he will get fired, or punished.Candy is the final character in the room that has multiple powerless moments. His old age deters him from from doing sustainable work, and his inability to defend his dog shows that he has a weak will. These factors put him lower in the social hierarchy, therefore making him powerless in many situations. Multiple characters have weakness in “Of Mice And Men” making it a major

Candy and George have just found Curley’s wife's body. Candy asks George if their farm dream can still happen, but George says that the dream was going to fail anyways. Steinbeck writes, “I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much, I got to thinking maybe we would” (Steinbeck 94). The farm dream means quite a bit to everyone considering it means security from the harsh world they live in. for Crooks it means respect and equality, for Candy it means security for his age, and for George and Lennie it means security from Lennie getting in trouble, and financial stability. Even though all these people are rooting for this dream, it still ends up failing. Curley’s wife is also an example of dreams failing. She could have been in the movies, but sadly her overbearing mother forces her to stay home. She then makes her situation worse by marrying Curley. Even though she works for that dream, it still fails. The reasoning behind both of these dreams failing is completely due to circumstance, which makes it even more tragic. None of the characters can stop the dreams from falling, which means it's more likely that other dreams in the future can end the same way. Every dream that a main character has in “Of Mice And Men” ends up failing, making “dreams often fail” a major