Of Mice and Men †Themes And Issues Essay

In the book ‘Of Mice and Men’ the writer John Steinbeck keeps returning to the subject of loneliness. By doing this he is trying to put through to us how they (George and Lennie) must feel, with no money, scraps of food, no where to sleep until they do get a job in the Barn House. In there they still feel a little lonely with other barn workers there. They sit there in silence. â€Å"He fell morosely silent.† If George was to go out with other workers, Lennie would be left alone with no one to talk to, as an example of loneliness. Lennie would just walk around and in one case he goes to Crook’s bunk. â€Å"You got no right to come in my room† Crook’s says to Lennie, in this case it makes him a little lonelier, being not accepted because he would not know why he isn’t allowed in there. Another example of loneliness is Curley’s wife. She feels lonely and never has anyone to talk to. When the ‘boys’ go out one evening, Lennie is left alone in the barn house, where he is feeling lonely playing with a puppy that was new-born. He killed it like he kills all the mice. Curley’s wife enters the barn and sits by Lennie. They talk for a while about their lifestyles when Curley’s wife mentions â€Å"It’s ok for you, you’ve got the guys to talk to, I ain’t got no one to talk to.† (Page 85) â€Å"I get lonely.† Here John Steinbeck is explaining to us, the readers that there is a lot of loneliness in the barns. He does this to show how important George and Lennie’s relationship is because all the migrant workers do not have relationships. So this shows how important it really is, because they are a companionship which means they will always be there for one another, the workers will not. When Curley’s wife says she gets lonely, she is trying to get Lennie to listen to her. In the same conversation between Curley’s wife and Lennie she says â€Å"Why can’t I talk to you, all the guys got a tournament going on, they ain’t gonna leave that tenement. I get awfully lonely.† Once again John Steinbeck is telling us, how lonely Curley’s wife gets. She â€Å"Just wants someone to talk to, I can only talk to Curley and he gets boring,† she hints. Steinbeck really tries to get through to us readers explaining the loneliness and isolation in this book. Crooks and Candy are also very lonely. Crooks because he is Black and has to keep himself to himself and has no one to talk to because of his colour mainly. Candy would also be lonely because he also keeps himself to himself and only really has his dog. After his dog is shot he is extremely lonely, for example he lies on his bed and stares at the ceiling. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ there is also a threat of violence and lots of violence. Violence is hinted earlier in the story, in Weed where Lennie was feeling the girls dress and wouldn’t let go which made her very scared, and made him angry. Also, the mice that Lennie kills, because he strokes them to hard shows that he doesn’t realize his own strength. One main piece of violence may be when Lennie killed Curley’s wife, breaking her neck. The readers all know that Lennie did not mean it, he is harmless. But just a little too strong for his own good. Lennie likes to feel soft things and was feeling Curley’s wife’s hair when he started to shake her so she wouldn’t scream, Lennie shook her so hard that he that he broke her neck. Another piece of violence was when Lennie broke all the bones in Curley’s hand. He did this unintentionally too, but Curley was punching and swinging at Lennie so much, George shouted â€Å"Get ‘im Lennie,† and in self-defense, Lennie broke all Curley’s bones in his hand. A threat of violence, a main one was after Lennie had killed Curley’s wife. Curley was screaming and shouting â€Å"I’m gonna bust him up, I’m gonna shoot his guts out when I find him.† Curley is furious at Lennie for killing his wife, and is telling the boys when he finds him, he’s going to die. Curley in this book is probably the biggest threat of violence, maybe he likes a punch-up, or a fight, and he sure is hungry to kill Lennie. In conclusion, John Steinbeck writes this book well, and I think knows what we (the readers) want to read. I think he keeps repeating loneliness and violence because he doesn’t want anyone to experience it themselves. This book is very well written and is a good example of lots of things, i.e.: Prejudice, Violence and loneliness.