Of Mice and Men Literary Analysis: Issues of Attachment It is said that it takes two months to get attached to a someone. In Of Mice and Men, characters spend well over two months with each other. Attachment is a prevalent theme throughout the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck encompasses elements of day to day struggles in the 1930’s through relationships and minor characters through the attachment they have. The theme of attachment is seen through the relationship between Lenny and George, the relationship between Candy and his dog, and lastly the actions of Curley’s wife. Since the beginning of the book, Lennie and George had been traveling together. They have been traveling together due to the actions of young George, who …show more content…
Curley’s wife is perhaps the least mentioned and regarded as a minor character but she is perhaps the most essential in the message of attachment. All she has is Curley, whose abusive nature is causing her to despise him more and more every day. She craves talking to others and forming an attachment to the boys on the farm (39). This causes her to try and make conversation with everyone around her. "Nobody can't blame a person for lookin', (40)", She says this as she reached a point where all she wants people to acknowledge her. This shows how much she wants to go looking for companionship. Her detachment to the world around her forces her to look elsewhere. She has a pent-up resentment to so many people, including her own mother. This resentment had occurred as a result of how her mother forced her to let go her dream of being an actress. She formed a detachment to her mother because of that. She has a tendency to resent herself too as she married Curley. She despises Curley and blames herself for marrying him and constraining herself to their house and the farm. Curley treats her like an object and she gets to a point where she is absolutely fed up with it but she still has no chance but to stay on the farm, her personal hell. She fails to form relationships with anyone and that eventually causes her death. While it is not her fault she dies, her actions did cause it. Her craving for attachment made her look to