How Does Steinbeck Explore the Theme of Loneliness in the Novel "Of Mice and Men"

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In the novel “Of Mice and Men” Steinbeck successfully displays the many social situations in which loneliness manifests itself. He also shows us how loneliness affects people and their behaviour and personalities through use if his characters. Isolation is the cause of loneliness, so I will be using the word throughout my essay. There are situations in which society isolates a person, or type of person, and makes them lonely, and sometimes isolation and loneliness is self inflicted. In this essay I will explain many of these situations of loneliness that Steinbeck presents us with and the effects it has on people – on their behaviour and personality, the characters he uses to represent these situations and effects. The opening description of the landscape seems in many ways similar to the Garden of Eden; it is idyllic, peaceful and gentle. Although it seems idyllic, the world that we are thrown into will prove to be a harsh and animalistic place, where the strong prey on the weak, and the weak on the weaker. We first realise this when the two protagonists are first introduced to the scene and the tranquillity is destroyed as the animals flee at the men’s entrance. The rabbits, for example, who “sat as quietly as little grey stones” just a second before, were then “hurrying noiselessly for cover”, and the heron “pounded quickly down river”. This hints the drifters have an animalistic and predatory nature to those weaker than them, and society and nature recognises this. Consequently, this behaviour prevents any of them making friends, and is a behaviour which even nature shies away from. The world isolates drifters, and in their isolation, they behave in such a way that keeps them isolated. Carlson is one of the more generic, stereotypical drifters of the time. Isolation in his case has rendered him devoid of compassion. He has no idea about friendship and
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