Of mice and men critical essay

An exploration of how John Steinbeck develops the theme of loneliness in his novel “Of Mice and Men

The novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck was written in 1937. In this novel there are many themes, some more prominent than others. Some of these themes are; inequality, tragedy, dreams, poverty loneliness and how unpredictable life can be. In this essay though I will be focusing on the theme of loneliness.

During the novel, George takes care of his simple-minded friend, Lennie. There are drifters, moving from ranch to ranch George is a hard working man but Lennie on the other hand always gets into trouble, with the arms of a bear and the mind of a 5 year old he can work, but he can mess up very easily. But despite all this Lennie and George have a dream, a dream to have their own land, not to be canned by anyone. This is their interpretation of the American dream, and Lennie was to tend the rabbits.

The book is set during the Great Depression -1929 until 1936-. During this time, people lost everything. Stockbrokers were reduced to cleaning toilets; Bankers were reduced to living in shacks –called Hoovervilles after the president of the time-. People lost everything, jobs, savings many even lost their homes. Also at the time there was a severe drought in the Southern Mid-Western states meant that farms and ranches were abandoned and there was a severe food shortage. These unemployed people flocked to the only state that was relatively untouched by the drought, California. These large numbers of unemployed workers flocked to California. Most of these lonesome characters drifted from ranch to ranch only keeping a job for a few months at most. They led lives, which were very difficult. They had to survive on a poor diet, and had to deal with being alone with out a meaningful relationship. The closest they could get was a whorehouse. George and Lennie are different though, they travel together. Being lonesome drifters is the thing that they are both trying to avoid.

Crooks is black, at this point in time –especially in the United Sates- black people had barley any rights and were constantly discriminated against. The United States was a segregated society. The situation of racial discrimination in the United States is a huge contributor to the theme of loneliness in this novel. I think this is shown particularly well in this extract:

“Crooks possessed several pairs of shoes,
a pair of rubber boots a big alarm clock
and a single barrelled shotgun.
He had books too; a tattered dictionary and
A mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905”

What I think that extract shows is, that black people in particular were shunned from normal everyday life. It also shows that John Steinbeck understands the troubles with black people, simply because of the colour of their skin. It almost exaggerates it to put the point across.

Another character who portrays the theme of loneliness is Curley’s Wife. Curley’s Wife is I think one of the biggest portrayers of this theme in the novel. The most obvious thing to spot is her name; it is simply Curley’s Wife not a proper name. This shows that at the time women were treated as possessions of men, not as people –It was the same story with prostitutes at the time-. This theme of loneliness through possession is shown quite well here.

“Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely. Lennie said, Well I ain’t supposed to talk to you or nothing. I get lonely. She said you can talk to people but I cant talk to nobody but Curley else he gets mad”

As I said before, this extract in particular shows the massive inequality between men and women, especially in the country. This was before the huge women’s rights movement so it was just the accepted way of life. Once a women married a man dshe and all of her possessions belonged to him –even children-. But she is not the biggest portrayer of this theme.

George is Lennies caretaker. Everywhere George goes, Lennie follows. It was unusual at the time fore two men to stick together. Most men Just wandered from farm to farm alone, no wife, no children and no friends. This meant that people were suspicious of his intentions, people almost thought he was bullying Lennie into giving him his pay. This is shown here: