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Living In Solitude In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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A Bullet to the Head : Living in Solitude

Imagine living in complete solitude with no one to talk to or interact with. Would you go insane from not being able to share your thoughts, emotions and ideas, or will you be accepting of your situation? In the novella Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie, two men travelling together in order to realize their dream of owning land, meet several workers at a ranch they have just arrived at. Several of the characters they meet, including an old man with a hand injury, an African-American with a crooked back, and a housewife who desperately wishes to become an actress, admit to having a lonely lifestyle as a consequence of living in various circumstances of solitude. Set during the Great Depression, Steinbeck uses the fictional characters, Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, to show the common emotion and feeling of loneliness people experienced during the trying times.

One of the first people George and Lennie meet is Candy, an old man who is missing …show more content…

From both the story and what had happened during the Great Depression, people began to suffer from living in solitude due to their race, gender or disability. Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife’s situations were all examples of what occurred in the 1930’s as a result of the discrimination during that time. Because of this common lifestyle, people were often lonely and either accepted their situation and secluded themselves from society like Crooks, or refused to admit defeat and strived to connect with others in the same way as Candy and Curley’s wife did. Due to the prejudice and biased views of a different race, gender or those with disabilities, all characters during the economic crisis lived a lonely and depressing life. With how immensely the Great Depression affected those living in the 1930’s and causing people to suffer from its effects, people should learn from history and work together in order to prevent this disaster from

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