Theme Of Suffering In Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck, the author of Of Mice and Men, uses a legion amount of circumstances that exclusively portray the inducement of human suffering. The assets that promote human suffering, including friendships, loneliness, and even dreams, can be recognized in John Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men novella. Steinbeck’s novella has included something that was rare and unusual during the 20th century; the friendship of two men, George and Lennie, who both dream to “ live offa the fatta the lan’ ”(14). The novella also discusses how loneliness can affect human beings, namingly Crooks and Curley’s wife, and cause them to suffer deeply as a consequence.

To start off with, Steinbeck uses the friendship of two men, George and Lennie, to show that …show more content…
In the Of Mice and Men novella, Crooks experiences loneliness because he is “ the negro stable buck” (66). On page 72, Crooks says, “ ‘S’pose you didn 't have nobody. S’pose you couldn 't go into the bunk house and play rummy ‘cause you was black... Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him’... ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don 't make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you’ ”. This shows that Crooks was lonely, and it caused him to suffer because he was black. It is also seen that he was separated from everyone else, couldn 't play common games, and was aware that he was lonely, and needed someone to talk to. He later also says, “ ‘A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don 't know whether it’s right or not. He can 't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can 't tell. He got nothing to measure by’ ” (73). During the 20th century, racism was prominent, and black people were not allowed to participate in everyday things that white folks were able to partake in. They were segregated, and in Crooks case, lonely. This quote shows that …show more content…
In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie have the dream of own their own piece of land, and owing a few animals as well. The dream of the two men, cause suffering to them, because it is a hard to accomplish goal. During the 20th century finding and owning land was a hard thing to do. It is said by Crooks on page 74, “ ‘I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ’em 's got a little piece of land in their head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it.’ ”. This shows that dreaming is easy, but accomplishing it is difficult and it might cause one to suffer. Everyone can dream, but not everyone can handle the pressure that dreaming puts on us, and that causes us to suffer vastly. George and Lennie both want to do anything they can to get the land and stop working for people. They want to get the land quickly, and along the way, they meet Candy, who wants to be a part of their dream. Their dream allowed for them to imagine a future, and gave them hope that it was possible, and let them live with the idea. The idea of their future made them suffer everyday, because they did everything just trying to reach it, they had put in a lot of effort and it caused them to suffer