The 3 themes in “Of Mice And Men” are loneliness, powerlessness, and dreams often fail. One main theme in Of Mice And Men is loneliness. George and Lennie have have just sat down to eat their dinner, when Lennie asks George to talk about their life in the future. George complies, and also describes their current situation. Steinbeck writes, “ Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They don't got no family. They don't belong no place.” (Steinbeck 13). George is speaking of the life of people in the 1930’s. Loneliness is a common trait amongst people, especially migrant workers. They have no family to travel with, and no friends. The only true friends George and Lennie have are each other. Crooks is another …show more content…
Lennie, Crooks, and Candy are all sitting in Crooks’ room, when Curley’s wife comes in. She makes a rude comment about the group. Steinbeck writes, “her eyes traveled from one face to another. ‘They left all the weak ones here” (Steinbeck 77). Curley’s wife isn't wrong. All of the characters in the room have forms of powerlessness. The first character is Lennie. Due to his IQ disability, Lennie would probably be dead or in a horrible situation if he didn't have George looking after him. Sure, Lennie is physically strong, but his memory impairs him from doing basic things. He is powerless without George. Crooks is also powerless in many situations. Being african american, Crooks has no say in any of the decisions on the farm. This is evident when Curley’s wife threatens to get him fired. Crooks has to be respectful to everyone, and take orders from everyone, or he will get fired, or punished.Candy is the final character in the room that has multiple powerless moments. His old age deters him from from doing sustainable work, and his inability to defend his dog shows that he has a weak will. These factors put him lower in the social hierarchy, therefore making him powerless in many situations. Multiple characters have weakness in “Of Mice And Men” making it a major …show more content…
Candy and George have just found Curley’s wife's body. Candy asks George if their farm dream can still happen, but George says that the dream was going to fail anyways. Steinbeck writes, “I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much, I got to thinking maybe we would” (Steinbeck 94). The farm dream means quite a bit to everyone considering it means security from the harsh world they live in. for Crooks it means respect and equality, for Candy it means security for his age, and for George and Lennie it means security from Lennie getting in trouble, and financial stability. Even though all these people are rooting for this dream, it still ends up failing. Curley’s wife is also an example of dreams failing. She could have been in the movies, but sadly her overbearing mother forces her to stay home. She then makes her situation worse by marrying Curley. Even though she works for that dream, it still fails. The reasoning behind both of these dreams failing is completely due to circumstance, which makes it even more tragic. None of the characters can stop the dreams from falling, which means it's more likely that other dreams in the future can end the same way. Every dream that a main character has in “Of Mice And Men” ends up failing, making “dreams often fail” a major
Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is a book that can be analyzed and broken down into a vast majority of themes. One of the predominant themes found in this book is loneliness. Many characters in this book are affected by loneliness and they all demonstrate it in one way or another throughout the book. Examples of these characters are Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and Candy.
According to Steinbeck, “They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true. George said reverently, “Jesus
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 the book, Of Mice and Men there were plenty of conflicts in the book. There were two different conflicts external conflict and internal conflicts. One of the external conflicts was between Candy and Carlson because Carlson wanted to kill Candy’s dog. Carlson thinks the dog is useless, old, and it stinks that is why Carlson wants to kill the dog. After thinking about it in the book it says “a long time at Slim to try to find some reversal, (Steinbeck)” Candy finally came to his senses and told Carlson to go take the dog’s life.
...arts to shout; she was then "still… as Lennie had broken her neck." Lennie runs away and George has to shoot Lennie as he cannot run from his problems anymore, Curley's wife being the reason of the collapse of their dream of owning a farm together and being independent. Candy and Crooks, who united with George and Lennie because of their dream, are now worthless for the plan. Curley's wife's death was ultimately the reason of the downfall of the dreams present in the novel Of Mice and Men.
The main cause of George and Lennie's lonesomeness and that of all the people at the ranch was a lack of a home. The only thing that kept the two men going was their friendship with each other and the hope to soon get a place of their own. In the novel George and Lennie mention what their dream place is going to be like: "Someday we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house, and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs and ---" (Steinbeck 16). Throughout the book the reference to having a place of their own is stressed. It is a deeper dream for Lennie than George because he is always asking to talk about it. It is here where the friendship between both men is starting to develop as they share the same basic dream.
According to Moore, "Of Mice and Men tells the story of two drifting ranch hands, George and Lennie, who dream, as rootless men do, of a piece of land of their own, where they will 'belong'"(341). George tells Lennie that the loneliest guys in the world are like them working on ranches, have no family, no place to belong for continually moving on to a new ranch, and have nothing to look forward to(Steinbeck 13). With them, it is not like that because they have a future, somebody to talk to, and are working toward getting their own farm with a couple ac...
Factors that can fuel loneliness are abundant: depression, trauma, social rejection, loss, low self-esteem, etc. The aspect of human connection and interaction is a psychological requirement for all people, even to those who push others away. These elements of isolation are presented through three methods in a 1938 novel of friendship. John Steinbeck uses indirect characterization, discrimination, and conflict to demonstrate the effects of loneliness and need for companionship in his novel Of Mice and Men.
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.
The theme in the book “Of Mice and Men” is “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”. Steinbeck shows us this throughout the story of George and Lennie dreaming and how they pursue them. The story shows how some characters have dreams that they look forward to in the long days on the ranch. Dreams have the power to change lives and give hope.
Strengths and Weaknesses play a huge roll within the story. Steinbeck explores different types of strength and weakness throughout the novel. As the novel begins, Steinbeck shows how Lennie possesses physical strength beyond his control, as when he cannot help killing the mouse. Great physical strength is valuable in George and Lennie's circumstances. Curley, as a symbol of authority on the ranch and a champion boxer, makes this clear immediately by using his brutish strength and violent temper to intimidate those who look down on him. Lennie means no harm at all. The reason why George and Lennie had to leave in the beginning of the novel was because it was believed that Lennie attempted to rape a woman there. Rape was not the case at all, when Lennie expressed his love for the touch of soft things, such as a dress or a mouse, this panicked the woman causing a chain reaction, and causing Lennie panic also. When Lennie accidentally kills the mouse, it foreshadows the future of Lennie and Curley's wife.
...most to achieve. George and Lennie can never live out their dream as during Lennie’s life he made it to difficult to keep a job because of his disabilities and when he dies ends the dream of ever being able to happen. Steinbeck also illustrates the difficulty of black men achieving their dream through Crooks. Crooks is just like every other men of the farm he is seen as weaker (due to his skin colour) to all the others giving him an unfair advantage of obtaining his dream. Finally, Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to demonstrate how woman were seen as more of a material object then a person in this time period which just like Crooks gives her an unfair advantage of achieving her dream. In the end, none of the characters in Of Mice and Men are able to achieve their goal due to one of their personal issues or one of the many social limitations around this time.
In conclusion, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a novel where all “American Dreams” are shattered. This in turn displays Steinbeck’s thought of how unachievable the “American Dream” actually is. The unrealistic nature of “American Dreams” is further supported by the fate of the 3 characters, Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks. All in all, the fact that circumstances, regretful actions, and unethical ideas of humanity as a whole, all provide in the impracticality of the American Dream, the dream for dreamers.
In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men he discusses Dreams, loneliness, and strength. Steinbeck’s main characters George, who is classified as a mister know it all so to speak and Lennie, a mentally ill man with the mind of a five year old, have a dream of owning land of their own some day. Curley’s wife, a sly indecisive she devil, had a dream of becoming a movie star and came close, but the talent scout who claimed to be her ticket to Hollywood never called her back. Crooks , the only black character in the whole book, in a sense is lonely. In this book Crooks is left out and separated from everyone. He is not allowed in the white stable-hand cabin. In the beginning of the book George describes that the life of a stable-hand is a lonely life. Then he also describes that he and Lennie is an exception because they have each other. Curley, who is the bosses son, is used as the tough guy that bosses everyone around. It is either his way or no way. He uses this power to manipulate some of the other characters in this book of irregular events.
Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck illustrates many morals in the novel. This novel supports many themes. The characters make up most of messages in the novel. Some examples are the predatory nature of human existence, the bonds between men, the impossibility of the american dream, and the destructive imbalance of social power structures in american society. The themes of predatory nature and the bonds between two men are important to the novella ”Of Mice and Men” because of when Curley got into a fight with Lennie, when George would be mean to Lennie, and when Crooks was also being mean to Lennie.