‘Of Mice and Men’ is an account of the misadventures of two companions, Lennie and George, during the Great Depression. The author, Steinbeck, explores the theme of loneliness and isolation is his novel through the effective use of setting and characters.
Steinbeck, a Stanford drop-out, wrote ‘dust bowl’ fiction, amongst other genres, about the lives of common folk during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The Great Depression was a bleak period of American history where there were severe economic problems for the country as a whole. This forced many people, like the main characters Lennie and George, to uproot and travel in search of work. The constant need to travel to find employment did not allow for the formation of proper relationships with others; this led to the majority of itinerant workers being lonely and isolated.
One of the aspects …show more content…
She is the only female on the ranch and Steinbeck makes it clear that she is separate from the rest of the men she lives with early on by using words such as ‘sourly’ and ‘scowling’ to describe the reaction of the ranch workers to her presence. Steinbeck makes it obvious that they do not accept her, making her isolated as they are the only people she can talk to. Curley’s wife is also left at the ranch on Saturday night and it is evident that she is bitter about it from her tone when she says ‘Think I don’t know where they all went?’, yet her lack of surprise suggests that she is accustomed to being left behind which shows her to be lonely and excluded. Indeed, she shares her feelings of loneliness with the ranch hands on the ranch of Saturday night when she exclaims ‘Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while?’ This implies that she is often isolated by the ranch workers and does not usually have somebody to talk to. Steinbeck uses these points to subtly reinforce the theme of isolation in the
Steinbeck, a Stanford drop-out, wrote ‘dust bowl’ fiction, amongst other genres, about the lives of common folk during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The Great Depression was a bleak period of American history where there were severe economic problems for the country as a whole. This forced many people, like the main characters Lennie and George, to uproot and travel in search of work. The constant need to travel to find employment did not allow for the formation of proper relationships with others; this led to the majority of itinerant workers being lonely and isolated.
One of the aspects …show more content…
She is the only female on the ranch and Steinbeck makes it clear that she is separate from the rest of the men she lives with early on by using words such as ‘sourly’ and ‘scowling’ to describe the reaction of the ranch workers to her presence. Steinbeck makes it obvious that they do not accept her, making her isolated as they are the only people she can talk to. Curley’s wife is also left at the ranch on Saturday night and it is evident that she is bitter about it from her tone when she says ‘Think I don’t know where they all went?’, yet her lack of surprise suggests that she is accustomed to being left behind which shows her to be lonely and excluded. Indeed, she shares her feelings of loneliness with the ranch hands on the ranch of Saturday night when she exclaims ‘Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while?’ This implies that she is often isolated by the ranch workers and does not usually have somebody to talk to. Steinbeck uses these points to subtly reinforce the theme of isolation in the