Of_Mice_and_Men_Full_Essay

OF MICE AND MEN CRITICAL ESSAY In the early 1930`s America and the rest of the world was hit by a great depression. Many people started losing money rapidly, sending millions of people hunting for work or any sort of labour to earn some sort of money or reward. Loneliness was at a major high in these very depressing times. Many people had to leave their homes, families and children. Some travelled alone in search of jobs where as some travelled with a partner. The loneliness drove people into anger, violence and depression. Most travellers always had a dream sitting on the back of their minds which would have helped them through. Some would dream of living on a nice big farm with a big house and lots of animals, where some would dream of things just going back to the ways they used to be and going back with their family. Loneliness is a very harsh side to life, some can cope, and others can’t. The ones that cant are the ones who suffer badly and left scarred mentally. The book which I’m going to be writing my essay on is called “Of Mice and Men” By john Steinbeck. Throughout this poem I will describe the different affects of loneliness. In this novel a great depression has risen in America sending millions of people without jobs and homes. Two of the people who have been affected by this have the names, George and Lennie. Two very strong hearted and loving people. When Lennie`s aunt Clara dies, George takes over the responsibility of looking after him. They have both lost their jobs and are desperate to find one again. They both travel across America in search of any type of labour work which would earn them some type of money. George is a small down to earth man where as Lennie is huge and seems to lack intelligence on things he says. He’s rather dim. When they both apply for a job on a ranch just next to the Salinas River< George lies about Lennie to the boss and tells him that Lennie is very bright and good worker. Both were accepted. Life on the ranch was very hard for Lennie. George tried his hardest to keep him out of trouble. Both have a dream of living on a farm with a free life with lots of rabbits and animals once the depression is over. But sadly at the end of this story Lennie kills the boss’s son’s wife and George puts Lennie out of him misery before the ranchers kill him themselves. Here we see how the writer explores the theme of loneliness. In this case he is describing the loneliness of the setting and surrounding attractions. The forest here is very quiet and lonely; “The evening of a very hot day started, the little wind moving among the leaves. The shade climbed up the hill towards the top. On the sand – banks the rabbits sat quietly like little grey sculptured stones. And then from the direction of the state highway came the sound of footsteps on the crisp sycamore leaves. The rabbit hurried nosily for cover. A stilted heron laboured up into the air and pounded down the river. For a moment the place was lifeless, and then two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool” The writer shows how he creates a mood of loneliness on the surrounding area and noise. “The little Wind moving among the leaves”, this shows that the forest is very and silent but every so often the noise of leaves rustling through the crisp air. A feeling of loneliness is felt hear. When the shade moves up the hill this creates a dark and loomey feeling on the reader. It`s as if it is just creeping its way up slowly. “On the sand – banks the rabbits sat like little grey sculptured stones. The forest here is very still. No movement at all creates a very lonely affect which would make people have a sad and depressed feeling. It was that quiet that the rabbits could be heard from a far distance running across the sycamore leaves. “For a moment the place was lifeless, and then two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool”. This also suggests that the forest is just completely quiet with no life. Even the stir of two men appearing is a big event. Loneliness takes a big role in this section. In the next quotation we see how loneliness effects Curley`s wife. She has no friends and is trying her hardest to get some. Curley is always away from her which makes her feel extremely lonely and depressed. This causes real problems in their relationship; “She knelt in the hay beside him; Listen she said`. All the guys got a horse shoe tenement going on, it`s only about 4 o’clock. None of them guys is going to be leaving that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you' I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely. Lennie said; well I aint supposed to talk to strangers. You can talk to people but I can`t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How`d you not like to talk to anybody' Lennie said; Well I aint supposed to, George is scared I’ll get in trouble”. When the writer is writing this part of the story he describes the loneliness that Curley`s wife feels and even Lennie feels lonely. “She knelt in the hay beside him”, this tells us that she feels comfortable speaking to Lennie and being close to him. Lennie allows her to do so which makes a warming connection. When she says, “Why can`t I talk to you”, this brings a real feeling of loneliness to her. It is as if she is desperate to speak to someone and has no one to talk to. This loneliness could lead to her and Curley breaking up or even just turning her life into a misery. “I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely”. She is scared to talk to people and people are scared to talk to her because Curley will get angry. She knows herself that she is very lonely but there is nothing she can do about. “How would you like not to talk to nobody' Lennie said; well I aint supposed to, George is scare I`ll get in trouble”. When George is saying this to her he feels pretty embarrassed and lonely to the fact that he can`t speak to anybody. The reason George feels this way about this is because he would feel very lonely as well if he never had Lennie around. He wants to keep him by his side and protected. In another part of the story we see how loneliness can drive people into mental sickness or even bad depression. Without any friends or people beside you loneliness takes over a big part of your life and changes your personality. Curley`s wife tells us that woman in those days were treated with disrespect and were used by men. The men often leave their wives for a long period of time without seeing them. They were treated like dirt; “Books aint no good. A guy needs somebody to be near them. He whined; a guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, longs he`s with you. I tell yah; he cried; I tell yah a guy get`s to lonely and he gets sick. George gonna come back; Lennie reassured himself in a frightened voice. Maybe George came back already. Maybe I better go see”. When Crooks says “Books aint no good. A guy needs somebody to be near them”. This makes the reader think that he has suffered from loneliness or has done in the past. He sounds as if he knows what he`s talking about. When he mentions something about people going nuts if they don’t have anybody to be with, this shows how loneliness can turn into anger or even violence. This violence can lead to stress which leads to other bad things. “I tell yah; he cried, a guy gets to lonely and he gets sick”. Being mentally or physically sick is a very common thing which comes along with loneliness. This sickness messes up the brain and can cause illusions. When Lennie asks Crooks if George was back yet, in a very frightened voice this indicates that Lennie is very lonely whilst not being close or with no sort of contact with him. In my next quotation we will see how the effects of loneliness can lead to anger or violence. People will turn mean and want to fight all the time. These are some of the serious effects of loneliness; “I aint got no people; George said; they seen the guys who go around on the ranches alone. That aint no good. They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wanting to fight all the time”. “Yeah they get mean; Slim agreed. They get so they don’t want to talk to nobody”. In this quotation we see how George explains that people who travel alone have no fun. This will lead to loneliness. People that travel alone have no company, therefore suffer from depression and will be lonely. “After a long time they get mean”, when someone is left feeling lonely for a short period of time they will start to get nasty and mean. Their personality will change into a cruel and disturbing ordeal. When George says that they want to fight all the time this is a more serious side off loneliness. Violence and abuse is a very harsh side effect of loneliness. In some parts of the book violence due to some sort of loneliness occurs throughout. My last quotation will be about when George compares his future to those other travellers who have no future. We will see how George and Lennie already have a future set ahead of them which will help them through this very rocky stage of life; “Lennie pleaded; come on George. Tell me, please George. Like you done before. You get a kick out of that, don’t you' A ‘right al tell you and then we’ll eat our supper. George’s voice became deeper. He repeated his words rythamatically as though he had said them many times before. “Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch and work up a stake and then go into town and blow their stake, and first thing you know they’re pounding on some other ranch. With us it aint like that. We got a future”. In this quotation we see how Lennie likes George to repeat to him how they plan on living their future. Lennie gets him to do this because he is feeling very sad and lonely. This helps relieve the loneliness. “Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. George feels very strongly about this and is probably true. People who work on ranches have no one to talk to; they may sometimes have no friends or are left on their own. When he says he got no family this makes us think of a very lonely and sad person. When ranchers have no family their future looks dim. This loneliness causes side effects such as depression. “They don’t belong no place”. People who work on the ranches often get mistreated and the ranchers who had been their longest treated new comers with disrespect. They treated them as if they didn’t belong on the ranch and like they were more important. “With us it aint like that, we got a future”. George and Lennie are very lonely. They have a future set out ahead of them to live on a farm with lots of animals. They don’t want to end up living like other lonely ranchers. During my essay I have picked out different quotes to explain in the best way possible the theme of “loneliness”. After every quote given I gave a detailed description of the different effects and side effects of loneliness. I have covered most aspects of it which include things such as mental sickness and depression ETC. When someone spends a long time away from their family or does not even have one, loneliness effects them greatly. I’ve also learnt that violence and angriness are both very emotional side effects of loneliness which can cause serious damage, mentally or physically. I think John Steinbeck has portrayed the theme of loneliness and the book in a superb way. He has researched into these effects very carefully and describes loneliness brilliantly. I think he has done a great job on writing this book and I have enjoyed throughout. I recommend to any non readers.