Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Loneliness is an essential part of the human experience. As humans, we have all experienced feelings of loneliness and isolation from time to time. It drastically affects us in various, unique ways from one person to another. In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, he writes about two friends, George Milton and Lennie Smalls. The novella is primarily set on a ranch, a few miles south of a town called Soledad, in California. The novel depicts the tale of George and Lennie, migrant workers in 1930's California. It conveys the struggles of migrant workers in California during the Great Depression era. Many migrant workers struggled finding jobs, frequently moving from one workplace to another, making just enough money to get by. In the novel,

When George and Lennie are on their way to the ranch, Lennie asks George to talk about their dream. George tells Lennie about the typical life of migrant workers like them, saying, “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 other ranch” (Steinbeck 13). George and Lennie are discussing the lives of migrant workers like them. George describes how lonely the life of a migrant worker is. All they do is move around looking for work, making just enough money to get by. Most of them have no place to call their own home and have no family or meaningful friendships. Most migrant workers live a lonely, isolated life. This discussion between the two men ties back to how loneliness and isolation affect people in different ways. George and Lennie, like most migrant workers, feel like they don’t belong anywhere, contributing to feelings of loneliness and isolation from the rest of the world. All they do is work, move around to find jobs, and make barely just enough money to survive. They represent the loneliness of most migrant workers during the time

Each of the characters experiences loneliness and isolation in different ways, and each of them is affected in their own unique ways. Steinbeck uses the character Crooks to display how feelings of isolation and loneliness have turned in into a bitter, angry, and resentful man, who can’t form meaningful connections. Steinbeck also uses Curly’s wife to convey how the feeling of loneliness and isolation has turned her into a flirtatious person who craves attention from others, and is willing to cause conflict in order to seek that attention. Furthermore, he uses the characters George and Lennie to represent how the feelings of loneliness and isolation affect migrant workers like them, during the Great Depression era. It is important that we humans recognize how loneliness and isolation can affect each of us in various, unique