However, despite George’s frequent bouts of anger and frustration, and his long speeches about how much easier life would be without Lennie, George is clearly devoted to his friend. He flees from town to town not to escape the trouble Lennie has caused, but to protect Lennie from its consequences. The men are uncommonly united by their shared dream of a better life on a farm where they can “live off the fatta the lan’,” as Lennie puts it. George articulates this vision by repeatedly telling the “story” of the future farm to his companion. Lennie believes unquestioningly in their dream, and his faith enables the hardened, cynical George to imagine the possibility of this dream becoming reality.
It also says that it particularly unusual for someone like Candy to get compensation for his work injury at the time of ‘the great depression’. The relationship Candy has with his dog is of particular importance. As it is very clear that when his dog got shot Candy enters a depression stage where he’s not talking and often “staring at the ceiling”. Similarly the life of the average rancher of 1930s America was depressing often travelling alone needing companionship. Moreover the relationship between Candy and his dog is similar to the relationship between George and Lennie, hence the dog getting killed foreshadows George killing Lennie at the end of the novel since Candy clearly says to George “I ought to of shot that dog myself.
DISCUSS THE THEME OF LONELINESS IN ‘OF MICE AND MEN’ Throughout the novella ‘of Mice and Men’ John Steinbeck seeks to explore the key themes of loneliness and isolation which plagued the population of 1930s America. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929 many of the working classes were plunged into a world of poverty and hardship where each day was a fight against the swelling tide of adversity. George and Lennie are employed by Steinbeck to convey to the reader the nature of man’s struggle against loneliness and its futility. The pair are very different from the other characters in the book in that they are not lonely, as they will often say “I got you an you got me”. They often use this friendship to validate their existence and comfort themselves, George is proud that he “got somebody to talk to that gives a damn” as this is a rarity and an achievement for an itinerant worker.
There are many themes raised in Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’, such as justice, equality, poverty and deprivation, but loneliness is probably the most universal theme. This is illustrated in most characters and events throughout the novel, overall portraying loneliness as the dominant theme. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in the mid 30’s, during the Great Depression, as is depicted throughout Steinbeck’s novel, showing that loneliness was a significant factor of the depression as people were isolated from their families and from one-another in the competition for work: “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place.” Migrant workers would commonly spend many months on the road, traveling from town to town, farm to farm in a bid to find employment, which mostly resulted in men moving and working alone.
On the second page Steinbeck describes Lennie by saying “…he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws” this implies that Lennie is quite a big strong man, and bears have the potential to kill; so does Lennie, but he doesn’t know that. He also refers him to being like a horse “snorting into the water like a horse” this suggests that Lennie doesn’t care what other people think of him, he just does what he wants to do. Steinbeck has made Lennie seem quite immature and insecure, as if he needs someone to look out for him, Steinbeck has also shown that Lennie has trouble with remembering things, ”Lennie. You gonna be sick like you was last night.” This means he had done something like this before but he had forgotten he was sick. He looks up to George like someone that he’d love to be, he imitates him like a child “Lennie who had been watching, imitated George exactly.”, and George is like a father to Lennie as well as his best friend.
Candy is ‘a tall, stoop-shouldered old man. He was dressed in blue jeans’, the uniform of the ranch workers, ‘and carried a big push-broom in his left hand.’ His right hand is stated as simply a stump because he lost his hand in a ranch accident. Now the owners of the ranch keep him on as long as he can ‘swamp’ out or clean the bunkhouse. Candy gives Steinbeck an opportunity to discuss social discrimination based on age and disabled people during the time of the Great Depression. Candy represents what happens to everyone who gets old in American society: They are let go, canned, and thrown out of their jobs were they expected to look after themselves.
John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath focuses on the Joad family who are poor tenant farmers that are driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, and changes in the agricultural industry forcing tenant farmers out of work. Due to the Joad’s nearly hopeless situation, they set out for California along with thousands of other “Okies” looking for land, jobs, dignity, and a future. California is supposedly the land of dreams that would relieve them from their forsaken situation. Throughout the book we notice the function of these characters that affect their situation of living. “The function of man” has multiple functions which are to meet one’s responsibility in life and to make the right decisions that would be beneficial to survive to meet the American Dream as revealed through the characters, Tom Joad, Ma Joad, and Jim Casey.
Part b) in the rest of the novel, how does Steinbeck portray the lives of migrant workers. In the rest of the novel, Steinbeck explains the lives of migrant workers. At the beginning of the book, we know that migrant workers are quite lonely, sad, have little possessions and are very independent and not very friendly. When the boss says to George “You takin’ hi pay away from him?” to suggest that the only reason he is traveling whit another man, is to have double pay. Ranchman didn’t travel together back in 30’s so there must be a reason for it.
Name Miss Connell English 1 (H) Due Date Loneliness in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men suggests that loneliness and isolation drive different social outsiders together. George is the first character in the novel to suggest that the loneliness itinerant ranch hands naturally face leads them to seek companionship. When he and Lennie settle in for the night before going to the Tyler Ranch, he says to Lennie, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.
Of Mice and Men is filled with characters such as this, which are unable to find a way out of their lonely lives. The loneliness in this story builds and builds and never is allowed to escape. By never allowing its escape, Steinbeck effectively forms a solid backing for the characters and events in his novel. Lennie's loneliness chiefly stems from the fact that he is both mentally undeveloped and very big and strong. His retardation sometimes causes others at the ranch to shun him; even to the point of thinking he is "cuckoo."