Of+Mice+and+Men+Essay

In the story "Of Mice and Men"by John Steinbeck, the theme is related to an old saying by Eric Hoffer that goes, "It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs." The theme of this story is loneliness. This act of loneliness is showed by three characters in this story. Those three characters are Crooks, Curley's wife, and Candy. These are reasons why they introduce the theme. Crooks works on the ranch as stable buck. He's always lonely because the majority of the ranchers that work there are racist against him because he is black. He isn't wanted in the bunk house, so he has to sleep in a barn. He almost never talks to anyone so he gets lonely. This is a quote that shows his loneliness. " I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick." ( pg. 73) These are ways he shows his loneliness. Curley's wife is lonely because Curley, one of the ranchers, almost never allows her to talk to anyone. She is regarded in a bad way by almost everyone who works on the ranch. She feels like she doesn't have the freedom she wants. This quote shows her loneliness. "Seems like they ain't none of them cares how I gotta live." ( pg. 88) These are the ways she shows her loneliness. Candy is old man who works on the ranch. In this story, Candy had a stranger shot his old and weak dog to put him out of his misery. That dog was all that Candy had left of a family. He used this quote, "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog." (pg. 61) Candy has lived on the ranch for awhile. He doesn't have any relatives and now he doesn't have a dog. These are the ways he shows his loneliness. These three characters from the story emphasize the theme of loneliness. The story shows major parts of loneliness and sorrow. They all try to hide the fact that they're lonely, but the loneliness just builds up inside of them.