Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Symbolism of Loneliness in ‘Of Mice and Men’ by Steinbeck Steinbeck’s novel ‘of mice and men’ is set in the time of the Great Depression after the stock market crash of 1929. The currency is almost worthless and people can afford little possessions. Because of the situation there are many people moving from place to place to find work. This means they are never in one place long enough to form any relationships, so this is a very lonely existence: “Guys like us, that live on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.” All that the men really ever spent their money on was the cathouses and bars, so they can never break free from their dire lives. Steinbeck emphasises loneliness, powerlessness, and isolation, and his hatred for it throughout the book.

Overall, great societies fall because of internal problems such as, unemployment which leaves people begging for money, political corruption that has government officials constantly fighting, and fast expansion making it very difficult for soldiers to be at all of the borders protecting the whole empire. One of the main reasons great societies fall is because of unemployment. Wealthier people owned farms and had slaves work, making their goods cheaper. However, farmers who had freed men that they had to pay could not sell their goods for very cheap, because they needed the money to pay the workers with. Eventually, the farmers couldn’t keep up with the cheap goods and eventually lost their farms leaving them unemployed and the freed men working for them.

"The way they pay you, you cannot make it by yourself without having a second job or someone to help you, unless you've been there for 20 years or you're a manager" (607). That is what one of Wal-Mart employees say, and it is the sad reality for many other low wage workers. Low wage is not enough to raise and support a family it’s not even enough to support one person by himself. Many low wage workers have to work second jobs just to scratch a living. Low wage workers are not adequately compensated for what they do, they benefit the American economy and the business owners but they don't even make enough money to support their families.

Being poor can affect you in many ways, but poverty affected Junior’s family because they couldn’t afford anything. They didn’t have enough money since his dad usually gambles most of their money away. They couldn’t afford to buy food because they lived in a Spokane Indian Reservation. They couldn’t take Junior’s best friend Oscar, his dog, to the hospital. They could barely afford to buy Junior new clothes.

George states, “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 oth... ... middle of paper ... ...rrows than joys in life. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men validates this saying by following the lives of two migrant workers, Lennie and George, who toil on ranches for a living.

In the book Of mice and men George and Lennie go hunting for a job from one ranch to another.they go in pairs in hope of raising enough money to buy their own ranch and work for themselves. This is also what happend during the Great Depression that hit from 1929-1939. There was mass Migration in search of jobs this left cities vacant and others overpopulated. Crime rate also went up as pety theft occurred to put food on the table, we can see a similar occurrence in Of mice and men where Lennie steal carlsons Luger, although this was not to put food on the table it was pety theft because most people could not afford these types of goods. 2.

The people are segregated into groups. Age, disabilities, race and sex separate many people. Also the time of economic hardship forced men to look after number one. It made it very hard for the men to form friendships as they have very few responsibilities. The book is about the unusual friendship of George and Lennie who have nothing in common with each other apart from they share the American Dream.

Lennie believes the dream will come true, but does George hopes that it could work, if Lennie does not ruin things again for them both. Even Crooks, the nigga in the story says that he has a dream, to live by himself away from the racism and his suffering. Even though he may be the most intellectual man on the ranch, he has the worst job, a stable buck; this is suggested by the way he reads a lot. You would think that he would have a job in a higher position and earn more money. The life these men live is very lonely, most of them have lost all contact with their roots, they never have a family and they can never keep any friends, unless they are prepared to travel together like

The economy was so terrible at that time that people would work long, hard hours for low wages and had so little to look forward to that they would take the little money they earned and spend it all in one night. “‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They got no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch.

Poverty is the main factor that stops people from doing what they wish they can do in life. This is when people don’t really know what to do to get out of poverty if they are poor. It is limiting the amount of things that people can get which includes anything out of their reach like an education, a school with with enough resources and good teachers, school supplies, etc. Without a proper education or with an income that can’t support people then they will be in poverty for the rest of their lives. For example, in the play, The Deaths of a Salesman the father, Willy Loman was a businessman even though it sounds like a good employment his family was still poor since his son would steal and didn’t focus much in his education.