During the early 1930s America’s economy was suffering in The Great Depression which in turn affected America’s people causing starvation, poverty, both physical and emotional stress, and a high rate of men leaving their families; leaving both men and women feeling hopeless and lonely. During this time author John Steinbeck, wrote “Of Mice and Men”; this book takes place at a ranch in Salinas Valley, California where he tells the story of two friends George and Lennie. Throughout the book you get a sense of poverty and the humanity of the characters. In “Of Mice and Men”, author John Steinbeck portrays how loneliness affects everyone in the 1930s by using the characters relationships with one another.
Within the first chapter Steinbeck immediately throws you into the feeling of loneliness using characters George and Lennie. He uses dramatic irony when George and Lennie first arrive to Salinas River and shows how lonely George truly is. “Well, we ain 't got any," George exploded. "Whatever we ain 't got, that 's what you want. God a 'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an ' work, an ' no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. Why, I could stay in a cathouse all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of. An ' I could do all that every damn month. Get a gallon of whisky, or set in a pool room and