Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is book of many themes. However, one that is very prominent is loneliness. Loneliness is common in many people's lives and that is also true for the lives of the characters of the book. Almost all characters in the book are lonely in one way or the other. That is why critics call this short book the greatest short work of fiction of all time. Of Mice and Men is the most realistic fictional story to life it show the pain of what happens and how real life is and that even with companionship people can still be lonely. That is why it grasps people's attention for its reality.

Steinbeck shows that all of his characters have relations to loneliness, however, he leaves hints in the story foreshadowing all the loneliness. In the book the first line says "A few miles south of Soledad" this is very clever because in Spanish soledad means loneliness. So you would guess that loneliness will take a big part in the book. Also, the story's setting which is during the Great Depression so no one was in a place long enough to form bonds with people so they would be lonely. Another hint is also that the title, Of Mice and Men , relates back to the poet, Robert Burns whose poem which is called "To a mouse" translates to no matter how well might the future is planned, things often go wrong.

The main characters of the book are George and Lennie. Even though these two seem to have each other, they are both lonesome in a way. Lennie's mental retardation isolates him from many people. George is the only person he can spend time with and many times their relationship is more then just friendship, but dependency. George feels responsible for Lennie, but knows he would be better off without him. George has to look after Lennie and clean up the messes he makes, because of this they are never able to stay in one place for a long period of time, making George unable to making lasting relationships with anyone besides Lennie. Then later in book when Lennie, the only companion he has, is killed, George is left with an even greater loneliness then he has had before.

Another character in the book that displays loneliness is Candy. Candy lives on the ranch, but because he is old and missing one hand he is certain that he won't be able to stay there much longer. He explains it, "They'll can me purty soon. Jus' as soon as I can't swamp out no bunk house, they'll put me on the country." (pg. 63) Candy doesn't have any family and even though the people on ranch don't dislike him, they don't really care about him either. After his dog is killed Candy is left with no real friends, and struggles against his loneliness by sharing in George and Lennie's dream of owning a ranch and living off "the fatta the lan".

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