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How Does Steinbeck Present The Theme Of Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

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Because the primary characters in John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men are migratory farm workers during the Great Depression, the book explores the ideas of solitude and loneliness. The major goal of the characters is independence, but their seclusion stands in the way of this. By using discrimination and control, the characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men analyze the ideas of isolation and loneliness. The prominent examples of alienation are Lennie, Curley's wife, and Crooks. Curley's wife longs to be a Hollywood star, but Curley's dominance hinders her from achieving her ambition. Due to Lennie's disabilities, he and George are unable to achieve their dream of living independently and must constantly change jobs.

Curley’s wife is kept isolated and controlled by her husband Curley. She is untrusted by Curley to talk to anyone, especially the farm workers. This can serve as a constant reminder of the marginalization against women during the 1930s. A key example of this is that she was just referred to by the farm workers as “Curley’s wife”. Curley’s wife has a dream to become a Hollywood star. Curley’s constant mistrust and control gets in the way of her achieving this. Because of this mistrust, she is isolated and not able to have any communication with anyone, unless it’s behind Curley’s back. Her dreams are unachievable unless able to escape …show more content…

Not having to constantly be on the move from farm to farm.“...Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter.” Not having to worry about anyone finding out about his mental disability. Constantly being on the move keeps Lennie and George from making any friends. George keeps isolated from other people, because he’s trying to protect him. But this can also have a negative effect, which can lead to loneliness. Lennie’s dream was never achieved because of his death, caused by

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In such time of the Great Depression and gender equality, this novel presents the character of sexism, Curley’s wife, to show how her dreams has been achieved through death. During her talk with Lennie, she tells him that she “‘[...]never get[s] to talk to nobody [and that she] get[s] awfully lonely’” (Steinbeck 86). Even though she is depicted as a flirtatious, “‘[...]purty [...] bitch’”, her true life was lonely and segregated from the male ranchers (Steinbeck 32). Steinbeck applies this paradox in the story to picture the reader about how a character’s identity can either encourage or ruin his or her reasons to live and achieve a future.

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On the one hand, George and Lennie’s wish of having their own farm, Cnady and Crook’s will of joining them, and Curley’s wife’s dream of being a movie star, were all unfulfilled in the end. These all symbolize the impossibility of American dreams On the other hand, almost all characters contained his or her own weakness, such as Lennie’s mental problems, Candy’s disability and old age, Crook’s color, women for Curley, and Curley wife’s gender and dissatisfaction. These characteristics make the story on the farm a symbol of predatory nature of human existence. Plus, racial and gender discrimination was recognized as a signify problem in this

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Lennie Is treated differently just because of his mentality and Curley’s wife is treated differently because of her gender. She is the only woman on the ranch. Lennie dreamt of having a farm just to tend the rabbits. And curley’s wife had a dream of becoming a movie star. Both of their dreams didn't come true.

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Lennie’s inability to see the effects of his actions makes him unable to achieve his aspirations. In of Mice and Men Steinbeck illustrates how no matter the situation of each character, they’re unable to achieve their dreams even with good intentions, and the outcomes of their actions contradict them. Lennie dwells on the dream of the farm, he yearns for the day that he and

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Curley’s wife is finds herself in an unlucky situation while attempting to befriend the “gentle” giant, Lennie, adding on to her already unfortunate past. She converses to Lennie of all her past plans, saying “‘I coulda made somethin’ of myself.’” Curley’s wife then reveals her backstory, how she nearly did make something of herself, with an actor or movie star husband, not some short-tempered, condescending control-freak. Following this, she dies because Lennie didn’t want her alerting the others to their location. What’s more, as readers follow the story, people see her as, states Candy, a “floozy,” which influences the opinion of how Curley’s wife is portrayed, a horrible, good-for-nothing whore.

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The story is centered around two migrant farmers; Lennie, who has a mental disability, and George, who watches over and protects Lennie from getting into any trouble. One of the mens’ fellow workers, Curley, has a wife who is constantly ignored and discriminated against because of her gender. While attempting to reassure Lennie after the loss of his pup, Lennie repeatedly states that he must follow George’s orders and avoid talking to her. Frustrated, Curley’s wife begins to rant about her true feelings after stating “‘I get lonely’” (Steinbeck 87).

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In addition, Curley’s wife herself remains unnamed due to the author’s intention of portraying women as they were seen during the Depression. After learning about Curley’s wife for the first time, George strictly tells Lennie: “Don’t you even take a look at that b**ch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her” (Steinbeck 32). The men at the farm treat her like a ruthless object ready to get them in trouble.

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He is a hard worker and a great friend to Lennie Small; the man whom George travels with. He is an unintelligent man who is as strong as a bull. George and Lennie travel alone from farm to farm. George often gets angry with him because he is like a child, always gets into trouble, asks idiotic questions frequently, forgets everything, and cries over anything. George became plagued with loneliness and alienation because he only had Lennie.

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