In the novel "Of Mice and Men", John Steinbeck, the author, reveals his social and political outlook. He does this using themes, characters and symbolism. In this assignment I am going to discuss these issues.
In the novel there are many themes including racism, loneliness and The American Dream. The strongest one of these, in my opinion is loneliness as almost all the characters in the novel are victims to loneliness. The only real friendship in the novel was that of George and Lennie. Candy had only his dog to keep him company, his one true companion. When that dog was taken away from him, by means of Carlson shooting it, he is devastated and becomes alone. So when he hears of George and Lennie's dream he wants to be included to avoid being alone. Even after Lennie kills Curley's Wife and the situation is such that the dream is impossible, Candy still wants to go with George and carry out the dream by themselves. .
Crooks" need to be included in the dream shows us that he also is a victim to loneliness. He says, ".A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long as he's with you." .
Curley's wife looks for friendship from other men showing that she is also lonely. She mostly tries to make friends with Lennie, for all the others are too afraid of Curley and wouldn't dare go near her. But all Lennie is afraid of is George and his "not being able to tend the rabbits" if he does something wrong. "Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever" once in a while?" Curley's wife tells Lennie.
Another major theme is The American Dream. A dream held by a great number of American people during The Great Depression. George and Lennie are the main characters in this novel that are the dreamers. Even before they arrived at the ranch that they are working they had this dream. This dream is to make enough money to buy their own land and to "live off the fat of the land", where they would be free to tend rabbits, go to a circus and to do whatever they wished.