In my essay I"m going to discuss the four major themes in the novel, "Of Mice and Men" (by John Steinbeck). The themes are: loneliness, dreams, friendship discrimination or inequality.
Loneliness affects many of the characters in the novel, and Steinbeck seems to show that it's a natural and inevitable consequence of the kind of life they are forced to lead.
Candy is lonely because he is old, and is different from the other people. His only comfort is his old dog, which keeps him company and remembers him from days when he was young. "Page 71, paragraph 3, line 1-4, Candy says,".
" No, I couldn't do that. I had "im too long. I had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him, said proudly. Is the only thing I've got.".
Once his dog is killed he is totally alone. He enthusiastically clutches at the idea of buying a farm with George and Lennie, but of course this never happens. Candy disappointed blames Curley's wife for spoiling his dream and life.
George is also caught in the trap of loneliness. Just as Candy had his dog for company, George had Lennie ( who is often compared with animals). When Lennie is killed, George is left completely alone, like Candy and friendless.
(QUOTE).
Another lonely character is Curley's wife. Recently married, and in a strange place where she is forbidden by Curley to talk to anyone but him. .
"Page 122-123, paragraph 4-5, line 1-6, Curley's wife says"Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely. You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad." .
To counter this, she constantly approaches the ranch workers on the excuse of looking for Curley. As a result of this the workers regard her as a slut, which makes Curley even more jealous. Finally, her loneliness leads to her death as she makes the unintentional, but serious mistake of trying to overcome this loneliness by playing with Lennie.
Curley himself is lonely.
