Of Mice and Men

A Lonely World Loneliness refers to being in the state of solitary isolation. Throughout the book, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, many characters portrayed different sides of loneliness that reflected their lives and the hardships they faced. Each one reacted and showed their loneliness in various ways, which played a huge part in the characters they became. Ironically, all of the characters live near a town called Soledad, which means “loneliness.” Lennie is one of the most important characters of this book. The whole story revolves around him. As we read, we can tell that he isn’t the brightest man in the world. He depends on George and literally acts like a five year old. Back in the 1930’s when the book was set, “mentally unstable” people were not treated well. Although we can’t say that Lennie was mental, we can infer that he couldn’t live or support himself without getting into trouble. I don’t think Lennie would travel with George everywhere and want to be ridiculed for the way he acted. He said himself that he doesn’t want to be with George if he is going to cause him any trouble: “If you don’ want me I [Lennie] can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time.” (Steinbeck, 12) Lennie would feel a sense of solitude because he was so socially and developmentally awkward compared to the rest of the men of the farm. It was very hard for him to fit in that environment.
George is another character through which Steinbeck developed the theme of loneliness. George was always an odd-man-out when he is with his other fellow ranch men. He often wondered what his life would be like without Lennie. George has the responsibility of taking care of Lennie. Most men in during the Great Depression didn’t travel in pairs, nor lost most of their jobs because of the person they travelled with. George has overcome many hardships with Lennie. Some examples being when Lennie got in trouble in Weed for “raping” the red dress girl. Although Lennie didn’t