Essay On Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

George is a hard working man who relies on mental acuity to get the job. He has a natural leader feel to him because he commands all of the people around him. George is described as small man with dark undertones and strong and slender physical features. Despite his dark facial features, George is a man with a caring attitude and helps whoever needs him. George’s best friend is Lennie depends on him to know what to do and tell him what to do. The character of George illustrates friendship and loyalty. Through George’s devotion to his friend, John Steinbeck reveals few people in the world display genuine friendship qualities.

Lennie’s mental difficulties often frustrate George, and at times he lashes out at Lennie. When Lennie complains, George explodes, “‘Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy’”(Steinbeck 11). Lennie doesn’t understand that George can’t give him everything. At times, George gets angry that he always has to support Lennie, “‘You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get’”(11). George always has to come to Lennie’s aid when he gets into trouble, “‘You do bad things and I got to get you out’”(11). These issues dishearten George, because he is forced to constantly travel to new places to stay ahead of the law. Even when he isn’t with Lennie, George still complains. When talking to Slim, he says, ‘“Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time’”(41). Overall, George believes that even though Lennie is a loyal friend, he is a pain to deal

As German theologian once said, “We are all so much together but we are all dying of loneliness.” This is quite apparent for multiple characters in the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. George and Lennie are two men that travel around together in efforts of finding work during the Great Depression, which they must do often due to Lennie’s mental illness that causes him to do “bad” things and ruin things for them on multiple jobs. However, they find work as ranch hands south of Soledad, which causes them and multiple other characters, such as the stable buck Crooks, to come face to face with their constant loneliness. Soledad, which ironically translates to loneliness, is relevant to the novel. Crooks, Lennie, and George are some of many of the characters who experience this negative feeling.

In Of Mice and Men, loneliness is a prominent theme that reveals itself in many instances throughout the book. It seems that nearly all the characters possess it in some way, shape, or form, but they do not all show it in the same manner. Being lonely can cause tragedies to occur similar to the death of Curley’s wife, or it can create a cloud over someone, causing his or her ultimate end. A couple of characters that seclusion is very noticeable in are Curley’s wife and Crooks. They go about life being secluded, but they show it in different ways. George and Lennie show loneliness, although it seems they do not since they accompany each other. There are many reasons that people become lonesome, including experiencing a lack of attention, having no one to talk to, or being the only one of their kind. These reasons and the situations of each character can be evaluated to figure out exactly why loneliness is a dominant part of his or her life.

Lennie cares about George. Lennie always wanted to be with George because, he needed a companion, but he may have trusted him a bit too much. “I turn to Lennie and say jump in and he jumps, couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned."(Steinbeck, 40) Lennie is dumb, but listens to George because he trusts him and Lennie gets hurt and doesn’t get mad at George. Lennie always wants to make George happy. "If it were here you could have some. I don’t want no ketchup." (Steinbeck, 11) Lennie always wants to give George everything he can and even when he has nothing he wants George to have some ketchup. Even when Lennie thinks George is mad at him, he still tries to find him. "Aint you gonna give me hell." (Steinbeck, 103) Lennie knew that George

Of Mice and Men was published in 1937 during a time of bi-racism between the caucasians and the african americans, and the apathetic Great Depression, which may have served as inspiration. In the novel two opposites attract, a gargantuan but mentally challenged man by the name of Lennie, and a small, nimble, and intelligent man named George. Suffering from a mental illness Lennie gets into trouble when he 's alone, but George always saves him, George knows Lennie doesn 't do anything, “out of meanness” as he says. Undoubtedly the reader assimilates that Lennie kills a young lady, said to have done so accidentally. Furthermore without any control George was forced to kill Lennie. However he first tells Lennie about their dream, about tending rabbits, living off the land from the crops, and shoots him. Friendship and Loneliness is shown here where George is Lennie’s best friend, and everyone else stays away leaving Lennie alone. Other times in the novel the reader witnesses many other characters face this same factor of isolation. Some examples are,

Throughout the novel, George and Lennie’s relationship is justified in various ways. What they offer to each other is also described throughout the novel. George provides Lennie with a sense of protection and the constant reassuring that everything is going to be okay. (Quote). Lennie supports George and every decision that he wants to make and the ones that he makes. Their friendship allows them to not feel the pain of loneliness. George and Lennie have spent most of their lives together and they are accustomed to just having each other, they are most likely oblivious to the fact that they are all each other have.

How does Steinbeck show the failing dreams of all the main characters, and how easy their goals are shattered throughout the book?

Loneliness, in accordance with the dictionary is a complex and usually unpleasant emotional response to isolation or lack of companionship. However, it doesn’t always work like that, human beings can be lonely even when surrounded by other people, specifically if said other people cannot relate to or communicate effectively with the subject. In this way, many people can be lonely but not even seem lonely and that in itself is dreadful. Loneliness is dark bottomless hole that is just too easy to fall into and disappear forever. Steinbeck though, used this tactic of despair and sentenced the majority of his characters to life with it in his novel, Of Mice and Men. The lonely are not few in Of Mice and Men but the most apparent ones that Steinbeck points to are George, Lennie, and Curley’s wife. Though they are all lonely in separate ways, they are still all lonely and Steinbeck proved that without a doubt.

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck each character has their own set of problems relating to the Depression. It could be there race, gender, disability or loneliness. While reading this book a few things were noticed like the number of characters who were experiencing loneliness. Although none of the characters really know each other they still have one thing in common and that’s their need of companionship. In my essay I’ll be explaining how each one needs a companion. The characters Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Crooks all exemplify loneliness and isolation.

We all may have had the feeling of loneliness and isolation, wanting companionship feeling abandonment. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, there are men living on a ranch having their own reasons for loneliness or being isolated. The three characters Crooks, George, and Lennie crusade dealing with own ways of loneliness and isolation. Crooks has no one that likes him because he’s black, Lennie struggles mentally and George struggles with always having to care for him. They all can’t decide whether it is that they want to be alone or not. Steinbeck displays through the dialogue and characterizations that these characters experience isolation because of both social barriers and personal choice.

When the word friendship pops in your head what do you think? You probably think of a person or a pet. In the novel, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, many of the characters are isolated from the real world and are lonely.Crooks, who is an African American stable buck, is discriminated because of the color of his skin. Crooks isn’t allowed to go into the bunkhouse with the other guys, he isn’t allowed to play cards with them either. Another character that expresses loneliness is Curley's wife. Curley, her husband, forces her to stay inside the house. With Curley making that rule, she gets very lonely and isolated with the world around her. Candy, who is a character that did not express loneliness at the beginning, finally expresses it when Carlson goes out and shoots Candy’s dog.

On many accounts, George states that his life would be much easier if Lennie were not around. Not only did he say this, but he also said demeaning comments to and about Lennie. For example George says, “... if I was alone I could live so easy.” (Steinbeck 11) However, there are many instances which show just how much George loves Lennie. One being when he gave an intimation that he did not want Lennie to leave after he offered to go. ‘“George,...I should go away and leave you alone?’...‘I been mean, ain’t I?...I was jus’ foolin’...I want you to stay with me,’ says George.” (Steinbeck 12) Even though he killed the closest person in his life, he would have died in a traumatic way, had George let anyone else get to

A key aspect of any novel or story is the way the characters interact and feel towards everything. In John Steinbeck’s, “Of Mice and Men”, the characters tend to give off the effect of loneliness and the feeling of isolation throughout the novel. The main characters that give off the effect of loneliness and the feeling of isolation are Curley’s wife, Crooks, and George. They’ve been truly alone, if not in mind then in body.

Ch 1: What is the relationship between George and Lennie? How is this relationship implied? Use textual evidence to support your answer.