How Does Steinbeck Present Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

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The widely praised novel by John Steinbeck, ‘Of Mice & Men’, communicates its many themes of humanity towards its readers. One of these main themes is the exploration of loneliness, which is demonstrated many times throughout the book using characterisation, plot structure and language. Loneliness is described as the absence of human or living contact being received by another living being. Steinbeck creates many characters in his novel that portray the theme of loneliness such as Curley’s wife, and Crooks. It is very clear that Curley’s wife suffers from loneliness for the duration of the book as she is ever-present in seeking for attention from other men on the ranch. She is also misunderstood by the men as they view her as untruthful to Curley and make cruel remarks towards her, further separating her on the ranch and within the group of workers. Curleys wife speaks to Lennie near the ending of the work, this is the first and last time that she has a sizable amount of human interaction with somebody. Crooks is another character, mentioned minimally in the novel, that endures days spent in loneliness. He is discriminated against for his race, and therefore is forced to sleep in the barn, away from other men. Again, as with Curleys wife, Lennie visits…show more content…
The author first conveys this message by setting the novel in ‘Soledad’, which translated to Spanish, reads ‘Solitude.’ This is very evident throughout that the town George and Lennie reside in is in fact a town of solitude. An example is the ranch which the men, except for the main protagonists, are all lonely as they have no emotional history or interest towards the other men. George and Lennie are the only two people who not lonely as they have each other, until the end of the novel where George becomes even more solitary than the others as he has lost the only true companion he has
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