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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Decent Essays

The theme of loneliness is pervasive throughout Of Mice and Men through Steinbeck’s word choice, especially in the case of isolation through profession, isolation from nature, and isolation at home. Through diction, Steinbeck portrays loneliness in George and Lennie’s professions. As migrant workers, their lives are extremely solitary. They must constantly shift through different areas of California, looking for temporary work. Also, these workers hardly have any fixed home. . With this life, one doesn’t actually make new companions. As explained by George, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place.” Migrant workers were only acquainted for the few weeks or months …show more content…

George and Lennie are dreaming of a few acres of land, “livin’ off the fatta the lan’”, where they can be self-sufficient, full with cows, chickens, and most importantly, rabbits. They intend to live from the natural produce of these animals, “like kings”, which contrasts starkly to their current meal, cans of beans with ketchup, occasionally. This is dream of many migrant workers at this time, not just George and Lennie. As migrant workers, they are alienated from the cycles of nature, they only do one job. Their dream addresses this, as it is direct contrast to how they work on farms. In addition to this, Lennie is intent upon tending to rabbits. In his mind, he has equated this task to pure happiness. He is so obsessed with this goal that he hallucinates a giant rabbit at the end of the story who tells him he cannot tend to them. His first thought after doing something “bad” is always whether or not George with let him tend to the rabbits. Bad is in quotations due to Lennie’s inability to determine different levels of trouble; no matter what he does: kill a puppy, demolish Curley’s hand, break Curley’s wife’s neck; he finds all of these things equivalent: “bad”. This proves Lennie’s inability to coexist in society or isolation from

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