Explore the Methods that Steinbeck uses to demonstrate stuff, Of mice and men GCSE assessment

Explore the methods Steinbeck uses to demonstrate the effects of isolation on people in “Of Mice and Men”
In “Of Mice and Men”, there is an immense concept of isolation and loneliness that holds seems to effect all the characters and events in the story. The Story starts off with a very fitting and supporting quote; “A few miles south of Soledad…” this quote starts the story with a very movie like scenario but also announces one of the major themes. Soledad in Spanish is translated as solitude and if you replace Soledad with its translation the quote says, a few miles south of solitude which furthermore implies that the location of the novella is just a bit away from complete loneliness. This metaphor also is talking about the setting of the book, the 1930’s depression was a time where there was a large amount of people all alone, wandering around the country looking for employment. Finally the quote is Steinbeck’s first use of foreshadow in the novella which is becomes to play an important role of forecasting events in the book that Steinbeck subtly sets into motion.
There are a number of ways that isolation is demonstrated and the most common way is the colloquial speech of the characters themselves. However it’s not just the language used but the themes that envelope isolation. Prejudice for example was a very common aspect of everyday life in the depression, so if you were racist, sexist or ageist it was considered as an alright thing to do. So Steinbeck implicates through Curley’s wife that prejudice isolates people and how isolation can be cause of fragility and depression.
“Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am anyways? You’re a nice guy. I don’t know why I can’t talk to you. I ain’t doin’ no harm to you”
Curley’s wife in this scene has found Lennie alone in the barn and is now emptying out her thoughts and feelings out to him. But in this quote it is less of a conversation but a repetition of rhetorical questions that Curley’s wife is chanting. Furthermore she is saying her thoughts of peoples prejudice towards her. Primarily she is isolated because she is the only female person on the ranch creating a sexual boundary between herself and all the other ranch members therefore isolating her from the group. Secondarily Steinbeck’s seems to describe her appearance almost as a sexual object; “She had full, rouged kips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up.” This concept of a sexual object is what separates and makes her seen in the light of a