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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

722 Words3 Pages

Steinbeck's novel "Of Mice and Men" includes a cast of characters including Lennie, George, Curley's Wife, Candy, and Crooks. Throughout the book, three major themes are present: loneliness, friendship, and dreams. The story follows two companions as they journey to a ranch and encounter many different individuals. The most important theme in this novel is loneliness. There is a lot of loneliness on the ranch. Curley’s wife is a very good example of this. As stated in the text,” I never get to talk to anyone. I get awful lonely.”(Steinbeck 88). This is a prime example of how Curley’s wife cannot talk to anyone. If she talks to anyone, Curley will get mad at her. Crooks also experience loneliness because of the racism on the ranch. As it states …show more content…

Every chance that she got to become famous was taken away from her, and after that, she decided that she might as well give up and marry Curley. She doesn’t like him, but she married him so at least she could do something. The third biggest theme is friendship. On the ranch, there are a good couple of people who share friendships. As stated in the text, “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you.”(Steinbeck 50). This shows how Lennie and George are really good friends and they will always have one another to look after. The sad ending of this book, where Lennie is shot, is a true demonstration of friendship. As stated in the text, "George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again. "(Steinbeck 105) " In this difficult situation, George knows that he can either kill Lennie himself or let Curley kill Lennie. He decides that he has to be the one who does it. This is similar to when Candy’s dog had to be put down, and Candy said that he couldn’t do it. Later when Candy’s dog was killed and it wasn’t by Candy, he felt bad that he wasn’t the one who did it. In this book,” Of Mice and Men” there are three main

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