Thematic Ideas In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the novel Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck comments on three thematic ideas: Friendship, Loneliness/Isolation and the American Dream. Based on the first 3 chapters of the novel, analyze what Steinbeck is saying about each of the ideas. You need to write a claim with one reason, find a piece of evidence to show your argument and analyze your evidence.

Thematic idea: Friendship

Claim: In the book, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck is portraying the theme of Friendship through the relationship between George and Lennie.

Evidence: "Sure," said Lennie. "I can remember this. Di'n't I remember about not gonna say a word?" "'Course you did. Well, look. Lennie- if you jus' happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right

Since Lennie’s Aunt Clara died, he has been taking care of him and both of them go everywhere together. Once George risked Lennie’s life to show off in front of some men. So he asked Lennie to jump into the river. Being innocent, Lennie jumped and was drowning. George saved his life and was tremendously guilty for his attitude towards Lennie. Later in the book, George and Lennie reached a new working place and because George cared so much about Lennie and did not wanted him to get in trouble so he kept on reminding him that whenever he senses trouble he should just flee to the clearing and hide in the brush, until he comes to receive him. All of these things show the amount of love and care that George and Lennie had among them that lacked in everybody else throughout the

Evidence: “George's voice became deeper. He repeated his words rhythmically as though he had said them many times before. "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no fambly. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go into town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to”(13).

Analysis: This quote shows that people who are working at the ranch do not have an outside life. They are just working mot of the time and then coming in the bunkhouse to sleep and it repeats the next day. The people who were on the ranch accepted themselves that they were the loneliest people. They had no family, no one who took care of them and they did not own anything. They did not have an aim that they were following, they were just trying to make ends meet for the next day. That is why even if they had someone/ something important such as a dog or a rabbit, they were not able to take care of