Of Mice And Men Solitude Analysis
Among the many potions and pills mankind has conjured up to defeat solitude and loneliness, companionship has proven through and through to be the most effective. Even through endless strife, companionship is really the only guaranteed happiness. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck addresses loneliness, apartness and the importance of man's commitment to man through the laborers of 1930's California. Steinbeck uses these laborers to describe solitude, the fruits of friendship and the importance of commitment to each other. The importance and need of togetherness in mankind plays an elusive, but vital role in the novel as it subtly appears time and time again.
The characters of Of Mice and Men have all felt loneliness to a certain extent. Steinbeck
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Entering the lonely town of Soledad, which literally translates to 'solitude', George and Lennie have a mutual dream and a friendship which immediately sets them apart from the other characters. For instance, when George and Lennie confront Curley's father for him to let them work, he asks, "I said what stake you got in this guy? You taking his pay away from him" (Steinbeck 22)? With this question in the air, it's easy for the reader to assume that Curley's father cannot even fathom any reason as to why two men would stay together in those times other than for one to take advantage of the other. This relationship between George and Lennie is also compared to that of Cain and Abel's, "Cain's question is the question again at the heart of the novel: "Am I my brother's keeper"" (Owens 146)? But the difference in these two stories is that George remains Lennie's brother, his best friend, even through the act of killing him to keep him safe, but Cain did the same out of hate, not love for his …show more content…
This new friendship occurring after George kills Lennie, symbolizes that commitment to each other holds more importance than their vision of the American Dream. Near the end of the novel, when the others find George after he killed Lennie, "Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him" (Steinbeck 107). At this point, Steinbeck uses Slim and his closeness to George to illustrate the idea that even though the dream is dead, what is left over is friendship; the commitment to man. This idea is reinforced and stated, "It should be noted that this novel about man's loneliness and "apartness" began with two men--George and Lennie--climbing down the pool from the highway and that the novel ends with two men--George and Slim--climbing back up from the pool to the highway"(Owens 149). The novel completes a full circle as it ends in the same manner as it begins. From this, a new dream can be realized and the story can continue and start the cycle all over again.
The central idea presented, man's unflinching commitment towards each other, is seen to be of thematic significance throughout John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men. In which Steinbeck uses migrant workers of The Great Depression to address loneliness, friendship and the importance of unity. The novel achieves this through the relationships between characters like Lennie,
Examples Of Sacrifice In Of Mice And Men
580 Words | 3 PagesThe novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, represents many things but the sacrifices the characters make are some of the most important things that happen in this novel. When people make sacrifice of things in their lives they begin to sometimes feel loneliness and/or regret for their actions or decisions. Also because they are lonely their actions become different from that of other people who don’t have large amounts of loneliness and/or regret in their lives because we must sacrifice some things in life. To begin with, when we sacrifice things in our lives, it creates the potential for loneliness. For instance when the men in the bunkhouse pressure Candy into getting rid of his dog when he finally says “”Awright-take ‘im.”
Loneliness And Isolation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
880 Words | 4 PagesWe 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.
Essay On Loyalty In Of Mice And Men
1047 Words | 5 Pages(Steinbeck, 41) George explains how he feels about Lennie without getting too sweet so Slim does not think that George is weak. George and Lennie were family, but not by blood, but by they way they took care of each other and protected one another. However, in the end the loyalty of the two men ran out.
Of Mice And Men Powerlessness Analysis
488 Words | 2 PagesHave you ever felt so powerless to where you can almost do nothing about it? “Of Mice and Men”, is a novel about friendship, care, and love. However the story has its bad parts such as Isolation, loneliness, and feeling powerless. In the short book, the author Joh Steinbeck does a wonderful job of portraying the theme Powerlessness. The main characters George Milton and Lennie Small have a dream about one day living alone on their own piece of property.
Of Mice And Men Theme Essay
790 Words | 4 PagesJohn Steinbeck's novella 'Of Mice and Men' contains various important themes. One of the significant themes of this novella is hope, friendship and loneliness, determination that empowers a man to endeavour with a feeling of self-esteem. In this novella, Loneliness is presented to be one of the dominant themes. The composer outlines the depression of ranch life in the mid 1930's and shows how individuals headed from town to town in an attempt to discover kinship keeping in mind the end goal was to escape from forlornness.
Of Mice And Men Rhetorical Analysis
937 Words | 4 PagesGeorge and Lennie share an unbreakable bond, despite their contrasting appearances and personalities with George being “small and quick”, while Lennie is “a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes and sloping shoulders” (Steinbeck 2). Even though they are so different, their personalities complement each other, and their undying friendship gives them hope and companionship in their desperate situations as migrant workers. Furthermore, throughout the novel, it is apparent that George takes care of Lennie through every obstacle he finds himself in, even though he is incapable of doing the same for George. Steinbeck also characterizes Lennie as innocent and animalistic to connect him to nature. He compares Lennie to animals in the barn describing the way he drinks water as, “snorting into the water like a horse”, and saying he “dabbled his big paw in the water” (Steinbeck 4-5).
Similarities Between Of Mice And Men And What's Eating Gilbert Grape
847 Words | 4 PagesThe novella, “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck and the movie “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” demonstrates a major theme of loneliness, each containing at least one or more character representing varying degrees of loneliness. Crooks, a character in “Of Mice and Men”, is the only black farmhand on an all white farm during the time of America’s Great Depression. He deals with the constant isolation, segregation, and loneliness of the racism on the farm. Mrs. Grape, a character from “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” is an obese mother grieving her husband’s suicide years later. Because of her immense weight, Mrs. Grape stays indoors at all times leaving her children to take care of the household, bills, and herself.
Of Mice And Men Betrayal Essay
888 Words | 4 PagesOf Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a well known classic that depicts the life of migrant workers''' during the great depression. As this book may seem uninteresting, it actually has been shown immense respect in the literature world. It has stood the test of time and is a primary book being taught in schools today. The theme played a big role in making this happen. Without realization kids are able to relate to the reason that it depicts loneliness and betrayal.
Friendship In Of Mice And Men
715 Words | 3 PagesIn John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s is revealed through a simple story of ranch workers who hope to improve their lives. Migrant workers, George and Lennie, have a friendship that is based on trust and protection. The other workers lack the companionship and bond that these two men have. In the novel, the absence and presence of friendship is the motivation for the characters’ actions.
Loneliness And Alienation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
708 Words | 3 PagesLoneliness and Alienation in “Of Mice and Men” In John Steinbeck’s novel, “Of Mice and Men”, many characters were plagued with loneliness and alienation, and most characters were in need of acceptance. The harsh time period of the Great Depression affected three characters in, “Of Mice and Men” greatly. Three characters that are plagued by loneliness and alienation and are in need of acceptance the most include George Milton; the protagonist of the novel, Crooks; the negro stable buck with a crooked back, and Curley’s wife; a young woman who just wants somebody to talk to. In this essay, you will learn why George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife were the loneliest and why other characters were not plagued with loneliness and alienation as much as these three characters. George Milton is the protagonist of the novel.
Social Classes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
833 Words | 4 PagesJohn Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, is a compelling story that has captured and embodied the struggle and loneliness felt by many during the Great Depression. While desire for the American Dream is prominent in the novel, Steinbeck is able to demonstrate the wants from different social classes through the construction of characters such as George Milton and Curley’s wife. With these characters, Steinbeck successfully displays the difference in ideas, values and attitudes of certain social classes in the 1930’s and the illustrates the rarity of achieving the American Dream. Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, when America was suffering greatly by the disastrous crash of the stock market. From this point in time, separation of the different classes became
Loneliness And Isolation In 'Of Mice And Men'
1062 Words | 5 PagesIn Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men the main theme is Loneliness and Isolation. Steinbeck really creates an image in your head of the life of the migrated ranch men. He hides the fact the characters are isolated in the language he uses. The town that the ranch is close to is called “Soledad” which means loneliness in spanish. In latin “Solitaire” (the card game the men play) means alone and isolated.
Loneliness And Isolation In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
1125 Words | 5 PagesLoneliness and isolation is an ongoing theme throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, experienced by several characters to different degrees. Some characters are more isolated and lonely than others, yet every character in the story goes through this theme during one point in the story. There are various reasons why each character is lonely or isolated. In general, all the ranch workers feel some sort of loneliness because they move alone from ranch to ranch and do not have real connections with others, Curley’s wife experiences this theme because she is the only woman on the ranch and nobody wants to interact with her because Curley is very protective and hostile of her. Thirdly, Candy struggles through being lonely and isolated after Carlson shot his dog and because Candy does not work with the others since he is a swamper.
Friendship And Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men
1145 Words | 5 PagesHowever 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,
Theme Of Isolation In Of Mice And Men
796 Words | 4 PagesOne’s self has experienced loneliness from choice or forced into isolation. The novel ¨Of Mice and Men¨ written by John Steinbeck, took place during the Great Depression, near Soledad, California. The protagonist, George and the antagonist, Lennie are mid aged, white men who are working on a ranch with other mid aged, white men. Along with ones who aren’t as focused at the time, such as Crooks, the negro or black, Curley’s wife, the woman and, Candy, the old and weak man were treated differently from all the white, strong males in the novel due to the setting the novel. This making distance in relationships in Of Mice and Men, isolating these characters into loneliness.
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