Loneliness is a basic part of human life. Everyone becomes lonely once in a while but in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, he illustrates the loneliness of ranch life in the early 1930's and shows how people are driven to try and find friendship in order to escape from loneliness. Steinbeck creates a lonely and blue atmosphere at many times in the book. He uses names and words such as the town near the ranch called "Soledad", which means loneliness and the card game "Solitaire" Which means by oneself. He makes it clear that all the men on the ranch are lonely, with particular people lonelier than others.
George is the dominant male in the relationship , because of Lennie’s disability it causes they both very much trouble back in Weed and on the ranch they arrive too after escaping. Also Lennie’s disability causes himself to be put aside from others on big events. While all the other ranch hands go to town, Lennie, Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s Wife are left behind. They’re left behind because to all the other strong and healthy men they’re outsiders. Lennie is considered as an outsider because of his mental disability.
Unfortunately this was not really possible in the 1930s, as people were prejudiced against the mentally handicapped, such as Lennie, and the Wall Street Crash, followed by the Great Depression, meant that the characters could suddenly end up unemployed and starving. George had two dreams, one was the stereotypical American Dream: to have his own farm with Lennie (and Candy) and ‘live off the fatta the lan’,’ without a boss to answer to. His other fantasy is of life without Lennie, who often caused him trouble and constantly needed looking after, ’I never get no peace.’ Without Lennie, George could be like any other worker, only looking out for himself and not caring as much about the way he leads his life. However, George needed Lennie for companionship to help make their joint dream vivid and keep them going. This also links to the theme of loneliness and companionship, and shows how two men travelling together was a rare situation.
A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick" Crooks the black stable buck said this quote. In my opinion I would say that crooks would be one of the loneliest characters in the novel. Crooks has to go through life on the ranch without any real friends and no one to talk to.
Depression affected everyone this is because many people were unemployed and had to travel and migrate to look for work. The book explores people's unrealistic dreams, their desperate needs for work and money, not belonging and being an outsider and the terrible loneliness the depression left
In the novel Of Mice and Men, the lives of migratory workers during The Great Depression were affected negatively and highly unfortunate. The constant traveling and temporary jobs caused workers to not be able to develop proper relationships with each other. Even though the characters can’t develop these normal relationships in society, all the characters yearn for connection or friendship as shown by the allurement of a “family” living on a farm like normal people. The characters crave companionship but surprisingly they isolate themselves from society because of fear of others hurting them which results in the theme of loneliness throughout the novel. This generalization is supported by many of the characters behaviors in the book and even in what they say.
George and Lennie need each other to survive and in the novel this is clearly shown to the reader. However with every other working man this is different because everyone travels alone, works alone and lives alone no friends along the way through the challenging journey named life. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.” However, Lennie broke in and said, “But not us! An’ why? Because ..... Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” As the novel comes to an end so does this relationship when it is broken as George shoots Lennie in the back of the head to prevent him from being tortured and captured.
He could feel like he’s in unequal marriage, where George has all the responsibilities. Curley’s Wife is definitely no happy and very lonely since she is living in her father-in-laws house. She thinks she has missed her opportunities in life by living with Curley and a ‘band of lonely men’. She even tries to get a bit of companionship by flirting and talking with the men on the ranch but when she does is comes back on her horribly. No one on the ranch can get the key to not being lonely; the men on the ranch use all their money on the brothel every Saturday night but it doesn’t stop them being lonely, Lennie and George think that having their own place would solve ‘everything’.
Silvana Delgado Roberts Structure in Language and Literature II 04/05/2013 Of Mice and Men Essay The characters in Of Mice and Men have a feeling of loneliness and dissatisfaction throughout the book. Loneliness affects the life of Curley's wife, she has a desperate need to talk to anyone that is not her husband, and he's also the reason she is stuck at the ranch. Candy's loneliness comes from losing his pet that he has had for so many years, and he also fears that he will get fired. It also has an effect on Crooks, who does not spend time with people because he is judged and mistreated by the workers in the ranch. John Steinbeck creates the characters in Of Mice and Men with a theme of loneliness
American English March 3, 2014 The Bane of Happiness John Steinbeck uses Loneliness and Isolation as two main themes in the novel Of Mice and Men, due to the effects of the Great Depression on ordinary people in the agricultural areas of America. Loneliness is a dominant theme in the novel Of Mice and Men. In this novel, John Steinbeck introduces the essentialness of loneliness of the life of many men during the Great Depression. Steinbeck uses concepts such as ageism, racism, and sexism to portray loneliness. Throughout the book we are introduced to many characters that display loneliness and isolation, some more than others.