Common Themes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

1002 Words5 Pages
Themes in Of Mice and Men Every single one of us has made plans for our future. However, they don't always go the way we wish. Of Mice and Men displays this as one of its themes very strongly. The novel also features the theme of friendship, and how it can impact our lives and emotional state. In life, our dreams don't always come true, but having friends there with us can sometimes help us make and/or achieve our dreams, but friends have the capability to them down as well. Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, we follow George and Lennie, who have high hopes for their future and wish to have their own place one day. But Lennie's mistakes set that plan backwards on several occasions. In the beginning of the novel, George tells Lennie the…show more content…
Not having friends make the lives of the ranchers even more difficult. Crooks says “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. I tell ya...I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (Steinbeck 69%). If the men had friends, their lives would become easier and less hard on them, ultimately making achieving their dreams so much easier. Since they don't have friends, has a firmer grip on them. George talks about this when he says “With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us" (Steinbeck 13%), in which he talks about how him and Lennie have a better chance since they have each other.They have a better chance because "I [Lennie] got you [George] to look after me, and you [George] got me [Lennie] to look after you [George], and that’s why" (Steinbeck 13%). The two men have each other for support, so they will always have someone to help them along the way. However, in a few instances in the novel, their friendship causes one to drag the other down as well. George says Lennie "keep[s] [him] in hot water all the time" (Steinbeck 10%). friendship can help you through the pain or create it. Cruelty can also effect friendships, as life took both Candy's dog and

More about Common Themes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Open Document