Loneliness in Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

Loneliness in Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

In the book Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck loneliness is very

significant and a major theme. Many of the characters are very lonely

and some of them try to look for an alternative way of life. George

and Lennie have each other, Candy has his dog to keep him company,

Crooks is lonely because he is black and Curley’s wife was so lonely

it killed her.

The book Of Mice And Men is set a few miles south of Soledad, which

means lonely place. This shows that loneliness is a main theme, by

adding in small significant facts like this one interest the reader.

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On pages 32 and 33 George describes to Lennie how life is different

for them than other ranch workers. George says “ Guys like us, that

work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no

family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a

stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first

thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They

ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.” George also explains the dream

where they will buy their own place, live off their own food and keep

their own animals, including rabbits that Lennie gets to look after.

On page 43 the boss reacts suspicious to George because they help each

other and travel around together and most of the ranch workers do not

travel around with someone else, as the boss says “I never seen one

guy take so much trouble for another guy.”

The boss also reacts wary and cautious to George because he will not

let Lennie speak and he starts telling the boss how good a worker

Lennie is, for example ...

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...bunkhouse because he is safe and does not know any better.

Crooks begins to outline his life by saying he was always lonely.

Crooks say’s “My old man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres. The

white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play

with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like

that. I never knew till long after why he didn’t like that. But I know

now.” But overall he has been lonely and forlorn all his life.

Steinbeck has used loneliness in many different ways but overall this

theme underpins the whole novel. He describes the characters very

differently but except for one thing loneliness. I believe the whole

world could have been a lot better and happier if everyone forgot what

colour skin they had, forgot how clever they were and tried to get

along with each other.