Charlene Sagoe
One of the themes that runs through of Mice and Men is loneliness. Show how this connects the story, the characters and the different scenes in the book
John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men in the 1930's. During these times, America suffered from mass unemployment. Due to the great depression men were forced to travel around to look for work. Of Mice and Men is a novel about the friendship between two men with the great depression shaping their lives Steinbeck shows how having to work from ranch to ranch, meant that they were unable to settle down in one town and raise a family.
The novel takes place over a few days. The action takes place in Soledad, California. The two main characters, George and Lennie are close friends despite the fact that Lennie tends to get himself into trouble and George is left to bail him out. They both have no other friends.
Of Mice and Men shows loneliness as a main theme in the novel. Loneliness relates to all the characters in the novel, Crooks who is a crippled black man living by himself on the ranch in the barn. Candy who is old and has his only friend who is a dog taken from him because the dog was too old. Curley's wife who has to be seen invisible by the other workers has no one to share her dreams and secrets too. All though she is married and lives with her husband she cannot express her feelings to him because she is not in love with him. Also as we go on in the novel she shows that she does not like him and that she feels he is a nasty person. She once said sarcastic to Lennie about Curley "Swell guy, ain't he". The characters have a rough unstable living in the novel. Workers coming and going, living with other men sharing a bunkhouse. The only source of entertainment for these men is card games and a trip to the whorehouse on Saturday evenings.
Compared to the other workers Lennie and George have a more awkward relationship. They have a special bond which the other workers are not use to seeing. They are more hopeful than the other ranch workers and both their dreams include each other. The come across as being different and unusual and probably untrustworthy because of their friendship. The workers find it hard to take in the fact that a smart small guy like George would like to go around with a big dumb man like Lennie. When George and Lennie meet Slim for the first time Slim explains the fact that not many people on the ranch move around together. 'Ain't many guys travel around together, I don't know why maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other'. George tells Slim how it is nicer to move around with someone that you know. Slim understands this statement but the ranch boss believes that George is taken advantage of Lennie's strength and his inability to think for himself. When interviewed by the boss George shows out to be in control of Lennie by answering all the questions asked to Lennie by the ranch boss. The boss turns on George saying 'Then why don't you let him answer? What you trying to put over?' He finds it awkward of the fact that a big man like Lennie would allow a small man like George speak for him. George and Lennie deal with their loneliness by focusing on their dream. Their dream consist of them being able to be in control of their own lives and to feel the power of owning their own home and land. To help motivate themselves and for George to distract himself from his loneliness he talks about the dream. "George's voice became deeper. He repeated his word rhythmically as though he had said them many times before". It is interesting that Steinbeck uses the word 'Rhythmically' because it gives the reader the impression that he is chanting his dream like a motto to help keep himself rational
