Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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One of the most depressing periods in history is known as the Great Depression. This horrific time all started with a stock market crash that made people poor and needy. They started little communities called Hoovervilles. Hoovervilles were small shanty towns full of small shacks made out of scrap metal. Everyone there struggled to survive and sometimes left their families to struggle on their own. All of these issues generated loneliness on many levels. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, is a great example of the struggles of the Great Depression as well as the portrayal of loneliness. It is about two individuals and their journey to a new place for new hope. The book exemplifies the challenges of the Great Depression and how loneliness…show more content…
People would become so poor during this time that they would leave their families in order to survive themselves. They did not have the necessary amount of cash in order to provide food and shelter for their loved ones. George once told Lennie, “guys like us...make a little stake an’ then they blow it in” (Steinbeck 104). This shows that even when someone made a little cash, they went out and spent it on useless things. They could have saved it for something more important, but they decided to throw all of their money down the wishing well. Without this life source, people felt the need to survive on their own. In other terms, the survival of the fittest. The person who left their family may feel that they are more important than their entire family as a whole and that it is their duty to survive. Sometimes even the parents leave their child to perish for their own needs. During the Great Depression, “...more than 250,000 teenagers were living on the road in America” (“American Experience: TV's Most-watched History Series”). This proves the point that minors could be left alone to survive with no money. These minors went off and traveled by the illegal route of jumping on the cars of a train. Many of them, “...were...searching for a better life; what they found was...loneliness” (“American Experience: TV's Most-watched History Series”). Since these Americans were on the streets and had no money, they were only able to find loneliness. No one during this time cared much about others. They only paid attention to keeping themselves
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