Of Mice and Men Themes: Depression

A central focus in the novel “Of Mice and Men” is the idea of inherent human loneliness. This manifests itself in many different ways for each character, but is collectively expressed as an unshakeable sadness or worry. Crooks states early on in the novel "I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of land'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head" This is an accurate representation of the general feeling of never-ending sadness expressed by the characters in this novel. Steinbeck’s approach to this feeling ventures outside the realm of just a plot device, because he uses it as a way to enable the reader to better understand each character’s self discovery and viewpoints on the world they live in. One of the most intriguing characters in the novel is Curley’s wife, who is never given a name, as to represent the treatment of women during the era. She is introduced as a character you are meant to dislike, promiscuous and seemingly out for trouble. Throughout the novel in the time leading up to her murder, we learn that she is not working to harm the people around her, but rather working to satisfy the sadness that stems from her lowly place in the world. She expresses this feeling when she states "Seems like they ain't none of them cares how I gotta live." Explaining how her “promiscuity” is actually just a cry for attention, showing that she isn’t the happy flirty woman she is made out to be, rather a fairly depressed and unhappy woman who wants to find ways to lift herself up. Moreover, it is hard for some people