Explore the methods Steinbeck uses to demonstrate the effects of isolation on people in “Of Mice and Men”
Isolation: a person, often shy or lacking in social skills, who either avoids the company of others or has no friends in a group.
In “Of Mice and Men”, there is an immense concept of isolation and loneliness that to effects 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 opening quote is a very movie like scenario but announces one of the major themes of the novella, loneliness. Soledad is the direct translation of solitude in Spanish 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 away from complete loneliness. This metaphor is also 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 most events in the book, that Steinbeck subtly sets into motion. These forecasted events emerge throughout the book, dynamically escalating to large dramatic scenarios, which is Steinbeck’s implication of realism.
There are a number of ways that isolation is demonstrated in the book 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 envelop isolation. Prejudice for example was a common aspect of everyday life in the Great Depression, so if you were racist, sexist or ageist it was considered alright.
Steinbeck implicates through Curley’s wife that prejudice isolates people and how isolation can become the cause of fragility and depression. Primarily Curley’s wife is isolated because she is the only female character in the whole novella therefore creating a sexual boundary of prejudice towards her from all the members of the ranch. Secondarily Steinbeck’s seems to describe her appearance in a sexual light;
“She had full, rouged kips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up.”
This sexual description fits hand in hand with the fact that she isn’t actually given a name so therefore it could be suggested that Steinbeck is describing her as a sexual object, which is owned by Curley. This then gives an atmosphere of fear and anxiety around her, causing all characters with the exception of Curley to keep their distance from her, isolating her because she is owned by another man.
This isolation of both prejudice and fear is the whole reason why she says “You seen Curley?” The quote is evidence that she is lonely and looking for company, but she is oblivious to the fear that she creates, so therefore she starts to flirt with people to attract them to talk to her which only amplifies the fear of Curley, who’s hot tempered and violent nature is a large aspect of danger for the ranch members not to cross. Not to forget that he is the boss’s son and could get them fired.
“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”
This quote implies that Curley’s wife is fragile because she is asking a repetition of rhetorical questions that are focused around her solitude. She is stating that she has the right for people to talk to her, that she isn’t doing any harm and that she is so lonely that she will do anything for company, even if she is addressing someone who is incapable of responding, Lennie. This fragility is the cause of her death. Which leads the reader to question, was it really her fault?
In the novella there are a series of recurring themes that are the cause of a number of the events of the book, this is because of Steinbeck’s writing style of realism that every action has a consequence and every comment has an effect. So, for example the time of the Great depression was the cause of mass unemployment causing men to wander around even the most desolate parts of America.
This isolation of financial difficulties is the very cause of everybody’s employment on the ranch. “Aint many guys travel around together” he mused.” I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other” This quote is brought up by Slim, the character who Steinbeck has created to become the vision of the American role model, the ranch’s own mega star that can do no wrong. So the fact that Slim has brought this up means that Steinbeck is implying that there is an important note to be made here about the people in the world at that time. Saying everybody in the world is scared of each other, brings the reader to think on the lines of the cause of this fear, why is everybody scared of each other? The answer is weakness; everybody has a weakness that they try to hide for example Curly resents being a small man, George can’t fight for his dream and Lennie is incapable. All of this fear of revelation of weaknesses is the exact reason why people are traveling in solitude and the fact that there is no trust between anyone, because in the end, for ranch members, it is the survival of the fittest. The quote in the end foreshadows Lennie’s death.
Dreams; in “Of Mice and Men” are the keystone of the whole book; it is what drives our two characters, Lennie and George, to live on. “Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land”, this quote is a comparison between dreams and heaven, that in the end they are the same thing. Getting your own plot of land in the Great depression is a common dream shared by most ranch members but the chances of you achieving it is nil. The destruction of dreams inside the book is a method that Steinbeck uses to demonstrate loneliness. But George and Lennie’s dream is quite the opposite towards loneliness and isolation; it is to be together living off of the “fatta the land” which is then shattered by Lennie’s accidental murder which somewhat kills a part of George as he realises there is no hope to strive for. But another major significant note is that the book ends in the location of its start, this poolside of hopes and dreams is the place where it was all destroyed. This supports the point of whatever goes around comes around as life repeats itself.
“I tell ya a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick”, this quote is voiced by Crooks as he’s is talking about the concept of isolation damaging people. There is overall no doubt that it is human nature to want company and there are a large amount of good characteristics that diverge from company. Such as kindness, love, trust and friendship, all these aspects of everyday life are what fill people’s hearts and fulfils them. How do you trust someone who isn’t there? How can you show kindness to an inanimate object? All these aspects of being a good character are gone because you can’t show them. The characteristics that you are left with are selfishness, anger, pain and regret because in the end you can’t relieve them and this hurts you mentally; stopping you from interacting with others, you are alienated from society. Crooks is isolated through prejudice of his skin colour, however the fact of staying alone for the majority of his life causes him to have an unrelenting anger towards everyone, it has damaged him to his very soul.
However with all the dramatic escalation of events and with all the emotion Steinbeck ends the book on a thoughtful note. “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” Carlson is the last character to speak in the novella and this is extremely interesting because Carlson’s described throughout the book as that typical American at the time who never seems to share any sympathy for emotional problems seeing as he shot Candy’s dog. Carlson gives a summary to the book that even with chaos of the unrelenting world, life still goes on and what goes around comes around. This is Steinbeck’s implication of the insignificance of series of events that in this time people were like this, barbarians in a modern society.
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