Loneliness in Of Mice and Men In Of Mice and Men, one specific, recurring word is loneliness. Almost all of the characters in the book experience loneliness, some more than others. Loneliness plays quite a large role within the lives of the characters and is displayed through conversations between them. The most common depiction of loneliness within the minds of people is that it is physical, mainly pertaining to the surroundings of one’s body. This image is demonstrated in Of Mice and Men through various characters. When George and Slim are talking by themselves in the bunkhouse about Lennie and George traveling together, George says, “‘You get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him’” (41). George has become accustomed …show more content…
This type of internal loneliness goes hand-in-hand with the phrase “no one understands,” and plays a large role in Lennie’s life. When Lennie accidentally kills the puppy, he covers it in hay and hopes that George will not see what he has done, so that George does not get upset with Lennie. It was only moments later that Lennie made the same mistake with Curley’s wife and says, “‘I shouldn’t of did that. George’ll be mad’” (92). Lennie is motivated to feel like he has done wrong because of what George says and not because he understands the situation which results in him feeling lonely because he does not have a way to connect with George in morality. Also, when George tells Slim about the situation with Lennie in Weed, he says that Lennie was accused of rape for touching a girl’s dress, and people sent out a “party. . .to lynch Lennie” (42). Those people in Weed misunderstood Lennie and his motives, and Lennie had to get away from the town. Lennie knows that he is very different from everyone else because people do not understand him, and if people fail to feel the way he does, Lennie has no one to connect with; therefore, he feels all alone. Lennie’s lack of understanding of the things around him, and others’ lack of understanding of him, forces him to make up things in his mind, like a child who has an imaginary friend. In the last chapter, Lennie is
Mother Theresa once said, "Loneliness is a man's worst poverty." Without friends and companions, people begin to suffer from loneliness and solitude (Dusenbury 38). Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life and cannot be avoided, as shown prevalent through each of the characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Each and every character in this novel exhibits loneliness. Lennie was isolated for being mentally handicapped, Candy was isolated for being old and disabled, Crooks was for being black, Curley's wife for being a woman, and George for having to care for Lennie and being unable to socialize with others because of Lennie's consistency of getting into trouble from town to town.
In the novel, Of Mice and Men, the effects of loneliness and need for companionship
Throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men (by John Steinbeck), loneliness is the major underlying theme of the novel. You could almost say that the book has hormonal' up's and down's. Most of the characters are very lonely because they have no family. However, George and Lennie are the contradiction to this. George and Lennie's bond towards each other are so- strong that you can almost see it as you are reading the book. Candy the old crippled man wants to be part of George and Lennie's dream to own a farm and "live off the fatta the land". Curley and his dog are like the metaphor in the book for George and Lennie. Candy has to take care of his dog and George of Lennie. The other two characters in the novel that are apart of the overall theme of loneliness are crooks the crippled stable buck and Curley's wife the flirtatious city girl. Crook's fits in to the loneliness theme because he is black. During this time in history, there was very little racial empathy. So being black means that he is isolated from everyone else at the ranch. Speaking of isolation, curley's wife feels very isolated because her husband, Curley, doesn't trust her at all, however, because Curley is so strict and concerned about her flirting with other guys it almost fuels her desire to cause trouble.
Personally I believe that this statement is true in every aspect. Loneliness is a big part of the book "Of mice and men." The book shows loneliness in every ones life in the book.
Lennie thinks of George as his only friend, his guardian, someone who he can trust and depend on, someone who had accepted him for who he is despite his childlike tendencies. Every time he did something wrong, his only thoughts would be of George’s disapproval. “I did a real bad thing. I shouldn’t have done that. George’ll be mad at me.
George's often dismaying desire is to accompany Lennie. Georges loneliness is very peculiar as unlike the other characters who face seclusion, George is united with a friend. However, Lennie is a phenomenally immature adult and as a result feels isolated. This affects him as he ends up either instructing or telling of Lennie when they talk which ultimately means George cannot have adult conversation, something which he deeply desires. An example of Lennie immaturity is shown when George enquires why he has a dead mouse.
Famous German physician Albert Schweitzer said, “We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.” In the novel Of Mice and Men, written during the Great Depression, loneliness is a very important theme. I am going to write about how loneliness has impacted the lives of George, Crooks and Curley's wife, in this essay.
In the masterful story Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck there is a looming theme of loneliness. This theme is told to you through the words and actions of the characters in the story . This story is told through two characters Lennie and George. The setting is 1930’s America. The story involves traveling ranch workers that live only for the one purpose to get paid and waste their money on a few drinks and some pleasure. These men are consumed with loneliness. The care for nothing but themselves. They are very unlike George and Lennie who have each other and a dream. Lennie is a big man with the brain of a child. Lennie never meant to hurt anybody but managed to get himself and his only true friend George into trouble. George is a small smart man who has known Lennie all his life and knows to well that Lennie could not survive on his own lets him travel with him as a favor too Lennie’s aunt
Sometimes in the story Mice And Men lennie will feel lonely because he think dont nobody treat him with no respect and like an outsider. All he wanted was friends but dont nobodt likes him becasuse he’s different from everynody else and they thinks he’s weird. lennie is a clueless person people dont really know anything about him or where he come from.
George cares for Lennie, but Lennie’s naive characteristics leads them both to trouble. Lennie is essentially on the run due to the crime he commits; that is why Curley and his men are on a manhunt to kill Lennie. Lennie also becomes a hinderance to George; Lennie’s desire to pet soft things never led to a stable life. No matter all the accidents Lennie gets George into, their bond of a companionship never broke. George never leaves Lennie’s side, and Lennie never leaves George. “Cause I want you to stay with me.” They both need each other to reach the one goal, which is to own a ranch. From all the experiences together, George is the only character who has the right to take Lennie’s life, since George is the only one who understands Lennie and he is his caretaker. “When his Aunt Clara died, Lennie just come along with me out workin’, got kind used to each other after a while.” Proving the long term relationship George has with Lennie, and everything they endure on a daily
In his novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930s. He illustrates how people are driven to find companionship. There were so many moments of loneliness and sadness throughout the novel, including many deaths. Following the deaths, they were very unexpected making the novel more intense and latch onto it more.
In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck utilizes diction and tone in order to convey the idea of loneliness and isolation. The author’s tone remains realistic through the novel. The diction embraces each character’s opinion about solitude and shows how these feelings change over time. Throughout the novel, several characters gain mixed feelings about themselves and through these changes, readers feel empathy towards those characters, yet, also realize that through human nature, seclusion feels necessary but because of loneliness, people seek companionship.
Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned. John Steinbeck brought up the theme of loneliness in many characters in Of Mice and Men. Crooks, Curley?s wife, and Candy expressed the theme of loneliness in many different forms throughout the story. Early in the novella George said, life working as ranch hands is on the loneliness lives to live, for these people finding friendship seems to be impossible.
The effects of loneliness on people are displayed in the novel Of Mice and Men through the character of Curley's Wife. As stated, when people feel lonely their actions and way of life are affected. In the plot they show that if it wasn't for Curley's Wife's loneliness she may not have died the way she did. Because she is so lonely she goes to the other men in the bunkhouse for company. When all of the men refuse to spend time with her because of the reaction Curley has on this, she goes to the one person on the ranch that she knows will talk to her, the mentally retarded man, Lennie. While talking to him she asks him to feel her hair, which he does and this leads to her death by breaking her neck. If it wasn't for Curley's Wife's loneliness, she would have never gone to Lennie for company and she wouldn't have died on that day in that way. Because this happens in the novel and there are so many other lonely characters in the novel, such as Curley, Candy, Crooks and George in the end, the theme of the novel Of Mice and Men is loneliness and the need for companions.
Loneliness is the feeling of isolation and no hope or dreams in your life-which is what Steinbeck achieves by portraying this theme effectively through key fictional characters in Of Mice and Men.