Loneliness In Society In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The novel I decided to pick for this essay was Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. One of the major themes of this novel is the issue of loneliness and isolation in society. Steinbeck offers the reader an insight into the society of this time which is set in the great depression in the 1930’s and how it leaves many of the characters behind, unwanted and alone. I believe this still to be relevant in modern contemporary living.
The characters who portray the theme of loneliness and isolation are; Lennie, because he is mentally challenged and the other characters fear his intimidating physique, but he also has George and their dream of getting their own farm to escape reality.
Candy, because he is old and deemed unfit to work, he is willing to sacrifice his life’s savings just so he can be part of the dream house, and this shows the extent of his loneliness.
"You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs."

We live in age of social media, we have built expansive social networks online, yet the depths of our networks offline have decreased. It seems that technology has made it easier to stay in contact while keeping distance, more and more people find themselves feeling isolated and never experiencing real contact with others. It has made us more isolated and feeling alone.
According to studies, those who report feeling most alone, are the people who use social media the most, young people aged under 35.
Social media cannot replace face-to-face interaction, a real human experience in building relationships.
As a study by Harvard Business Review found, team performance went up 50% when teams socialized more and limited email for more operational only