Isolation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Desolate and dark, bleak and bare. Many souls yearn for consolation from their isolation in their daily lives, yet they do not receive it. The grim truth of the nature of human existence is that isolation will always occur, and will happen to all people—whether it be at one time or at a different time. Isolation is not simply physical, but can also be emotional. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men tells the tale of George and Lennie. They find solace and companionship in each other, traveling around together as migrant workers and staying by each other’s sides. Steinbeck suggests that isolation brings great loneliness, but can be aided by dreams. Isolation brings people great loneliness because of the great emotional disconnect it creates. When …show more content…

George and Lennie are together physically, yet still isolated in a way. They talk about a dream that will happen in the future to cope with this, “‘We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us’” (14). The author’s use of the word ‘damn’ puts much more emphasis on how important this dream is to them. Without the dream, it is definite that their lives would be much less colorful and have less aim. The dream is so important to them, taking away the remaining feelings of isolation that they have and letting them look forward to a brighter future and to a better goal. When Candy hears Lennie and George discussing their dream, he becomes very excited as well, “He leaned forward eagerly. ‘S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hunderd an’ fifty bucks I’d put in.’” (59). The word ‘eagerly’ is only used when someone is actually very excited for something and looking forward to it. Thus, Candy must be extremely excited to jump in on Lennie and George’s dream, and for a very simple reason. Having a bright future to look forward to is what Candy needs to have his feelings of loneliness lessen, as something to look forward to everyday would do exactly

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