How does Steinbeck explore the theme of loneliness in 'Of Mice and Men' and why is this theme so important?

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How does Steinbeck explore the theme of loneliness in ‘Of Mice and Men’ and why is this theme so important?

Loneliness plays a key role in this moving story of the lonely and dispossessed. Each character has a different element of loneliness, yet they all join together and portray the main image of the book: the hardship faced by ranch workers in the 1930’s.

The ranch itself is in Soledad, in California’s Salinas Valley. Steinbeck purposely used this location as the name Soledad in Spanish translates as ‘loneliness’. This is showing the beginning of the lonely journey that George and Lennie were headed towards.

Each man on the ranch keeps himself to himself and ‘Hardly none of the guys ever travel together’ because of the lack of trust work men had towards each other.

So when George and Lennie arrive, the Boss suspects George to be ‘sellin’ him out’ and stealing Lennies’ wages. This proves that men on the ranch didn’t have friends, they are ’the loneliest guys in the world’, they just find work and move on ‘poundin’ their tail on some other ranch’.  George tells Lennie of the kind of people on the ranch on their journey. They are the ‘loneliest people in the world’. Lennie understands this and tells George that this doesn’t apply to them because they ‘got each other’.

Steinbeck has used George and Lennie in this novel to show the rarity of a pair of workers. George and Lennie travel together, which was very rare at that time because of the lack of work in the 1930‘s when no one trusted anyone. George is a ‘small’ and ‘quick’ man and Lennie is his ‘huge companion’ with a child like mind.  Lennie is dependent on George and couldn’t live without being looked after, and there was no one else to look after him. George often told Lennie that he was a lot of ‘trouble’ and how he could ‘get along so easy’ if he didn’t have Lennie on his ‘tail’, even ‘maybe have a girl’.

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This represents George’s loneliness, he lacks grown-up conversation, because all he has is Lennie and he doesn’t understand much more than a simple sentence.

Lennie isn’t a lonely person, he lives off ‘the dream’ that he and George tell each other. Lennie is always asking George to ‘tell me’, ‘like you done before’ and George doesn’t disagree. Lennie and George have each other ‘to look after’ and they are each others company.

When they arrive at the ranch Slim and the others are not great friends, and Slim adds that ‘maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of ...

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