Of Mice And Men Theme Essay

Many themes are demonstrated in the short novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Some examples of these themes are dreams, love, death, and escape. But of all the themes, none is more prevalent like that of alienation. Alienation, or the isolation from a group or activity, is shown in a variety of characters in the story. Three characters that exhibit the theme of alienation are Crooks, Curley, and Curley's wife. The first characters that exhibits signs of alienation is Crooks. He is the character most known for being isolated. The main reason for this is because of his race. Being African-American in the time period of the 1930s, racism is a rampant part of everyday life. Crooks is given his own room so he can remain segregated from …show more content…
Not once is her name mentioned in the novella, which speaks greatly to how the other characters view her. One thing that sets her apart from the other characters on the ranch is that she is female. This makes the men look at her differently. In this time period, it is thought that women should not hang around men. Another reason others distance themselves from Curley's wife is because of the fact she is Curley's wife. Since Curley is the boss' son, nobody wants to be on his bad side. Their active effort to keep away from her makes her yearn for more human contact. She teases the men, flirting with them only to have contact with them as well as to make them feel the same wrath that she gets from Curley. And because of Curley's possessive behavior, she feels trapped. The last thing that alienates Curley's wife from all the men is that she has such a high opinion of herself. According to Steinbeck, she believes she is above everyone on the ranch and that when she married Curley, she settled (88). Steinbeck also writes that Curley's wife believes she could have been rich and famous if it were not for her mother (88-9).That boastful opinion of herself is also what makes individuals not want to be around