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How Does Steinbeck Present The Theme Of Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

574 Words3 Pages

Loneliness. Isolation. Alienation. These are all feelings and emotions that many people feel over their lifetimes. Several characters in Of Mice and Men are no exceptions to this. In fact, Steinback purposefully connected them to show a dynamic between them. As the novel progresses and we see insights into the characters, Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Crooks are prime examples of Steinbeck exploring the human emotion of loneliness and the feeling of isolation. The first instance we see loneliness used as a characteristic in the novel is Lennie. Lennie has trouble conveying his emotions adequately, which has the unexpected side effect of Lennie feeling isolated from the rest of his clique. We see an insight into Lennie’s psyche towards the end of the novel as he hallucinates manifestations of his insecurities. “And then from out of Lennie’s head there came a little fat old woman.” (Steinbeck 100). This illusion of Aunt Clara shows how guilty Lennie feels about his intellectual capabilities, giving us a tone of self-awareness from Lennie. Eventually, the hallucinations spiral into a form of a rabbit: “Aunt Clara was gone, and from out …show more content…

Curley’s wife is the second example of suffering without fault of their own, as she was unable to secure her dream of making it big in ‘Hollywood’. After meeting a man who was “...in the pitchers” (Steinbeck 88), Curley’s wife intended to receive a letter following the man's return to Hollywood. However, the mother intercepted the letter and prevented her dreams of making it big. Defeated, she is then forced to marry Curley to escape her home. Curley’s wife was stuck at the ranch, which causes her to feel like she needs attention from the other men. Steinbeck created this dynamic of Lennie and Curley’s wife to build tension for the reader, which makes the “twist” of Lennie accidentally twisting her neck all the more shocking and

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