Loneliness in Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

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Loneliness in Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck In the book Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck loneliness is very significant and a major theme. Many of the characters are very lonely and some of them try to look for an alternative way of life. George and Lennie have each other, Candy has his dog to keep him company, Crooks is lonely because he is black and Curley’s wife was so lonely it killed her. The book Of Mice And Men is set a few miles south of Soledad, which means lonely place. This shows that loneliness is a main theme, by adding in small significant facts like this one interest the reader. [IMAGE] On pages 32 and 33 George describes to Lennie how life is different for them than other ranch workers. George says “ Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.” George also explains the dream where they will buy their own place, live off their own food and keep their own animals, including rabbits that Lennie gets to look after. On page 43 the boss reacts suspicious to George because they help each other and travel around together and most of the ranch workers do not travel around with someone else, as the boss says “I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.” The boss also reacts wary and cautious to George because he will not let Lennie speak and he starts telling the boss how good a worker Lennie is, for example ... ... middle of paper ... ...bunkhouse because he is safe and does not know any better. Crooks begins to outline his life by saying he was always lonely. Crooks say’s “My old man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres. The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long after why he didn’t like that. But I know now.” But overall he has been lonely and forlorn all his life. Steinbeck has used loneliness in many different ways but overall this theme underpins the whole novel. He describes the characters very differently but except for one thing loneliness. I believe the whole world could have been a lot better and happier if everyone forgot what colour skin they had, forgot how clever they were and tried to get along with each other.

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