Consider the theme of loneliness in the novel. How does it affect friendships and relationships?

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Chris Emery, 11Q, 04.01.03

 

Consider the theme of loneliness in the novel. How does it affect friendships and relationships?

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. When becoming a fictional writer this area played an influential part in the settings of many of his novels. This includes the great novel ‘Of Mice and Men’. As a teenager the depressing scenes of the rural Californian ranches he worked on in the summer impressed on him deeply. Steinbeck’s best-known works go into this scene very intimately with the plight of desperately poor wanderers in search of work and money, who, despite the cruelty of their circumstances, often triumph spiritually.

Of Mice and Men is set in the years just after the great depression and stock market crash of the 1930’s with the dust bowl raging in the southern states. Like a lot of Americans ‘George’ and ‘Lennie’ were searching for work on ‘the ranches’, in their quest to own their own land and ‘live of the fat of the land’. However, cruel and powerful forces beyond their control thwarted their quest for land and their tragedy was marked, ultimately, by steadfast compassion and love. The novel is set in the farmland of the Salinas valley. The ranch George and Lennie work on is just outside Soledad, and the countryside surrounding the ranch is described in the beginning of the book as ‘On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees – willows fresh and green with every spring,’ the passage emphasises the beauty and peacefulness of the area. George and Lennie were people known as Migrant Farm Workers. These travelled the countryside between the 1880’s and 1930’s harvesting wheat. They earned very little each day, plus food and very basic accommodation in the outbuildings of the farms. Unemployment was very high in the 1930’s so the government set up agencies to organize and send farm workers to where they were needed. George and Lennie were members of the agency ‘Murray and Ready’s’ from which they got their work cards. They, like most of the migrant farm workers, were in search of ‘The American Dream’ which was to own their very own ‘little house and a couple of acres’.

 

One of the biggest themes in the book is loneliness. Many of the characters admit to suffering profound loneliness. George sets the tone for these confessions early in the novel when he reminds Lennie that life on the ranches is among the loneliest of lives, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They don’t belong no place”. Candy has one companion and that is his dog, so when the dog is killed he has no one and therefore attaches himself to George’s and Lennie’s dream. He does this so that he doesn’t become an outcast and alone. Candy still wants to carry out the dream even after Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife, even though he knows only too well that Lennie cannot return to the life he led before. Crooks feels that he would work for free, as long as he wouldn’t be alone and could communicate with someone “… A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he with you…” Curley’s wife is so overwhelmed by her loneliness that she seeks friendship from other men. She intimidates all the other men except Slim because she is beautiful and because she is Curley’s wife. She eventually makes friends with Lennie and confesses her loneliness to him “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while?” Each of these characters searches for a friend, someone to help them cope with life. In the end, however, companionship of this type seems unattainable. For George, the hope of such companionship dies with Lennie, and true to his original estimation, he will go through life alone.

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The relationship between George and Lennie appears to be very unusual to the rest of the workers. It is clear that most of them are lonely. They all have different ways of coping with it; some remember wished-for friends with affection. Others become self sufficient and only look out for themselves making them very selfish. Crooks insists on the right to be alone even though he dislikes it. Carlson is incapable of caring for others and their feelings. This side of him is shown clearly when he bullies Candy into allowing him to shoot his ageing, smelly, rheumatic dog, “He ...

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