Of Mice and Men Theme

A detailed Summary of Of Mice and Men Theme

First published in 1937, Of Mice and Men is a classic American novel by John Steinbeck. George and Lennie are two ranch hands that travel together, with George watching over the mentally inferior Lennie. When they start work at a new ranch, several different characters are introduced. One affliction that seems to face several characters is loneliness, created by factors such as the character's lifestyles and by social standards of the time period. Steinbeck's theme that loneliness is unhealthy and dangerous to a person's well being is emphasized throughout the novel.

This underlying theme is first introduced in the novel when George talks to Lennie about the advantage they have over other itinerant workers of the time. George described how other ranch hands like themselves who traveled alone had nothing to look forward to, and no one to look after them. He told Lennie how other workers would just work up a stake and blow it at a bar because they had no where else to go, no one else to look after them. George explained how Lennie and himself were different from those lonely workers when he said, "With us it ain't like that, We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us" (Steinbeck 15). Beca

In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck showed the toll that loneliness takes on people and how they try to avoid loneliness. He used George and Lennie's relationship as a contrast to everyone else in the novel who went through life alone. He also showed the downside of out casting people like Crooks and Candy, for race and age, because the loneliness they would be left with was cruel. With Curley's wife, Steinbeck showed just how hurtful loneliness can be by havin her own loneliness result in her death. After understanding the effects of loneliness by reading the novel, Steinbeck leaves the reader wondering whether Curley's wife was better off dead anyway.

was instead forced to live all alone i the barn, with only books for company. When Lennie wandered into his room, Crooks talked to Lennie about his loneliness. He described how upsetting it was to not be able to share your thoughts with another person. "A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that." Crooks explained, "Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothin to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy an' ask him if he sees it too. He can't tell" (80). Crooks also tried to get Lennie to sympathize with his loneliness. "S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, lon

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Approximate Word count = 1137
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels