Theme of Loneliness
LONELINESS
The dark intense feeling of loneliness is an element of life that is inevitable to all people on a global level. To me it is like a parasite, is a virus eating away at the soul. ‘Of Mice and Men’, by Steinbeck exemplifies the loneliness of life on a Californian Ranch. John Steinbeck accomplishes this through characters as well as name of the town. A theme should be present during every element of the story, there are many themes that are present most of the way such as friendship but loneliness is present from beginning to end.
From the beginning of the story the tone of loneliness is depicted through the title of the town, ‘A few miles south of Soledad’. Soledad is short for the town’s full name, Neustra Senora de Soledad which means ‘Our Lady of Loneliness’. A town with a name like this caries a negative aura. The people who are resident in this town and even visitors are engulfed by its solitude.
The theme of loneliness is presented through many characters, one of which being Crooks. The only black man on the ranch, we are even introduced to him as, ‘the door opened quietly and the stable buck put his head; a lean negro head, lined with pain’, everybody stays away from Crooks because of his racial background. Crooks is forced to live on the border of the ranch life, he is not even allowed to enter the white men’s bunkhouse. Crooks inner pain of loneliness is revealed when Lennie had come into Crooks room, ‘A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Doesn’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you…I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick’, Crooks ability to speak his heart’s desire to a stranger illustrates his degree of loneliness. Furthermore, we find out Crooks shares the same dream as George and Lennie which is, to ‘live ‘off the fat of a land’, Crooks asks Candy if he too can join the dream, ‘If you guys would want a hand to work for nothing, why I would come an’ lend a hand’. Here
The dark intense feeling of loneliness is an element of life that is inevitable to all people on a global level. To me it is like a parasite, is a virus eating away at the soul. ‘Of Mice and Men’, by Steinbeck exemplifies the loneliness of life on a Californian Ranch. John Steinbeck accomplishes this through characters as well as name of the town. A theme should be present during every element of the story, there are many themes that are present most of the way such as friendship but loneliness is present from beginning to end.
From the beginning of the story the tone of loneliness is depicted through the title of the town, ‘A few miles south of Soledad’. Soledad is short for the town’s full name, Neustra Senora de Soledad which means ‘Our Lady of Loneliness’. A town with a name like this caries a negative aura. The people who are resident in this town and even visitors are engulfed by its solitude.
The theme of loneliness is presented through many characters, one of which being Crooks. The only black man on the ranch, we are even introduced to him as, ‘the door opened quietly and the stable buck put his head; a lean negro head, lined with pain’, everybody stays away from Crooks because of his racial background. Crooks is forced to live on the border of the ranch life, he is not even allowed to enter the white men’s bunkhouse. Crooks inner pain of loneliness is revealed when Lennie had come into Crooks room, ‘A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Doesn’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you…I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick’, Crooks ability to speak his heart’s desire to a stranger illustrates his degree of loneliness. Furthermore, we find out Crooks shares the same dream as George and Lennie which is, to ‘live ‘off the fat of a land’, Crooks asks Candy if he too can join the dream, ‘If you guys would want a hand to work for nothing, why I would come an’ lend a hand’. Here