Of Mice And Men

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Of Mice and Men

Introduction

In "Of Mice and Men", John Steinbeck talks about a few things but one of the central messages is isolation. Steinbeck has a lot to say about loneliness and through the novella, he teaches a lesson about the nature of human existence. All the characters of this novella: George, Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife, admit at some points to have a profound sense of isolation and loneliness. This novella spots light on two displaced ranch workers who move from one to another place in search of work and fall a victim of isolation. Isolation is the main theme that ultimately refers to the loneliness of man in this world as in this novella, it could be seen that each worker/character desire the comfort of a friend but would settle for the attentive ear of the stranger.

Discussion

The theme of loneliness becomes more evident when the reader takes a look at the name of the town, they work in. This town is called Soledad which means "solitude" that refers to the fact that they are working in a group but still, they are all alone. Each character is affected by isolation and deals with feelings of loneliness (Benlloch et al, pp.74-91). Curley's wife is married but still, she feels lonely as there is no other woman she could talk in the ranch and that’s why she tries to make workers her friend. Some of the workers who misinterpret her friendliness call her “tart” as it could be seen in this novella when Candy says, “Well, I think Curley’s married…a tart.”

Isolation is one of the dominant themes of “Of Mice and Men” and there is no character who is happy the way he/she living. Crook is another character whose loneliness could be witnessed easily from his character analysis, it could be seen that Crook is isolated away from other individuals in the bunkhouse as it is stated in this novella "his bunk in the harness room and is so probably really lonely too (Hawkes et al, pp.1-13). He only has books as his companion even when all the other workers go into town, Crooks tells Lennie that he is not welcome. Though, says to Lennie, "You got no right to come into my room" but still because of his loneliness, he relents and invites him to sit and talk so that he could get rid of his isolated state (Hays et al, pp. 41-50). He does not want to read all the time but because of his isolation, he says "Books ain’t no good he is in search of human companionship, "A guy needs somebody – to be near him". On the ranch, all the itinerant workers feel lonely and were in search of some human companionship that's why they used to visit brothels. In this novella, it could be seen that the workers claim, "We go into old Susy's place … Got five girls there."

Conclusion

Taking a look at this work of John Steinbeck, it could be promulgated that though there are many themes Steinbeck has highlighted, but isolation and loneliness are one of the most prominent of all. It won't be wrong to say that all the workers on the ranch are looking for companionship and friend but they could not get over their isolation as they come across the stranger rather than a friend. Though this theme of isolation Steinbeck is pointing towards the human life and reality that humanity is forever alone in this world and man is by nature lonely and despite being weak and alone, he seeks to destroy who are weaker than him.

Works Cited

Benlloch, Vincent. "Those for Whom This Civilization Has No Place": Reading Eugenics in Of Mice and Men." The Steinbeck Review 16.1 (2019): 74-91.

Hawkes, Lesley, and Sarah Kanake. "Structural boundaries that affect the representation of gender and disability in works of fiction from the United States and the United Kingdom." Gender, Place & Culture (2019): 1-13.

Hays, Peter. "Steinbeck's Plays." The Steinbeck Review 16.1 (2019): 41-50.