Many characters in 'Of Mice and Men' are shown to be lonely. Write about how Steinbeck portrays loneliness within the novel.

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“Of Mice and Men” Coursework

Many characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’ are shown to be lonely. Write about how Steinbeck portrays loneliness within the novel.

In ‘Of Mice and Men’ the author, Steinbeck, has presented many of his characters as being lonely. He has intentionally set the novel in Soledad, which in Spanish means ‘our lady of loneliness’. This setting gives the added effect of loneliness, as the place itself is pretty bland and spacious.

As his novel was set in the 1930’s many people at that time were trying to live out the “American Dream”. These people wanted better lives for themselves and their families. Like George and Lennie these people would dream about there “little house” and “a couple of acres” they might own. However this dream abruptly ended for many people due to the Great Depression. This Depression led to large numbers of migrant workers like George and Lennie. This people quickly became “the loneliest guys in the world” because they had no friends or family.

John Steinbeck’s novel has a strong of friendship throughout. I believe that the friendship between the people on the ranch is closely linked to loneliness.

This loneliness does not apply to some people living on the ranch. For example the reader knows Curley isn’t as lonely as others because he has his father, the Boss. However loneliness applies to the following people: Crooks, Curley Wife, Candy, Lennie and George.

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Crooks is the loneliness person on the ranch. Crooks is a Negro. “He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept there’s”. The reason for Crooks keeping his distance from the other workers is that they are discriminating against him because of his colour. An example of this in the novel is seen when the workers tell Crooks that he has a bad body odour due to his colour. The impact on the reader would be that of sadness for Crooks.

Curleys Wife has her reasons for being lonely. In the novel Steinbeck describes Curleys Wife as ...

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