Of Mice And Men Theme Analysis

Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, contains various different themes which link together. Two of the major themes are ‘Loneliness’ and ‘Dreams and Hopes’. This essay will analyse these two major themes and explain how they relate to each other.
Of Mice and Men is a story about the nature of human dreams and aspirations and the forces that work against them as it is the story of two men. George and Lennie’s dream is to own a little farm with a house and rabbits. George has told the story of his and Lennie’s dream many times throughout the chapters of this novel.
To George, the dream of having their own land, means independence, security and being their own boss, which means they wouldn’t have to work for any other people. To Lennie, the dream is like the soft animals he pets. It means security and the responsibility of tending to the rabbits. Curley’s wife’s dream was to become an actress, a movie star and to become famous. She mentions her dreams in the line, “I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” “If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet.” With these words she’s implying that she doesn’t like her current state of life. So her dream hasn’t been fulfilled, just like any of the dreams of the characters in the novel.
Loneliness is present throughout this novel. On an obvious level, we see this isolation when the ranch workers go into town on Saturday night to ease their loneliness with alcohol and prostitutes in the brothel. Similarly, Lennie goes into Crook’s room to find someone to talk to, and later Curley’s wife comes in for the same reason, as she always wants to talk to people. Crook’s says, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you.” Also, Slim mentions, “I seen the guys that go around ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get