Explore The Theme Of Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

The passage from Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is from the fifth chapter of the novel. It begins with Lennie entering the barn, searching for his dead puppy. He finds the puppy and starts thinking about how George will be mad at him for killing it, and won’t let him tend to the rabbits. Curley’s wife comes in and talks to him. She asks Lennie if he wants to touch her soft hair, and ends up snapping her neck after she tries to pull away. The passage starts with Lennie trying to cover her dead body. It is clear to the reader that Lennie is regretting his actions. Lennie then leaves to get rid of the puppy, and to go to the bush where George told him to go if he had gotten into any trouble. Candy later comes in, towards the end of the passage,
While the other ranch hands play horseshoes, Lennie sits alone in the barn. Lennie wanted to go to the barn to see one of his only companions, his puppy. After he killed it, he regretted his actions, because he had lost someone who he used to talk to often. Lennie says, “I done a real bad thing,” he said. “I shouldn’t of did that. George’ll be mad. An’ . . . . he said . . . . an’ hide in the brush till he come. He’s gonna be mad. In the brush till he come. Tha’s what he said.”, which shows that he sees his actions as wrong and is trying to do the right thing by listening to George after the terrible thing he did. He also regretted killing Curley’s wife, because she would listen to what he had to say. Lennie longed for someone to listen to him while he talked, along with many of the other ranch hands. Crooks also longed for a companion. Being the only black man on the ranch, he would often become lonely, due to the fact that he was separated from the other ranch hands. When he talked to Lennie, he had someone to listen to. Steinbeck includes this in the novel to emphasize how important it is to have someone that will listen and talk to you in