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.
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 envelope 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 isolating 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 bosses 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 unemployed men wandering around, even the most desolate parts of America looking for employment. 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” the story is built on top of dreams and these dreams are the exact reason of what drives the two main characters, Lennie and George, to keep on going. However dreams are hard to achieve because the closer you get to dreams the harder they become to achieve and the loss of them can cause depression and turmoil inside one’s life. “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 sober 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 emphasise loneliness as it is what causes Curley’s wife’s death and Lennie’s.

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 Great Depression, so if you were racist, sexist or ageist it was considered as alright to do.
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 isolating her. 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 Steinbeck is describing her as a sexual object who is owned by Curley. This then gives an atmosphere of fear around her, causing characters 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 that Curley, who’s hot tempered and violent nature is a very large aspect of danger for the ranch members to cross, Not to forget that he is the bosses son.
“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 unemployed men wandering around, even the most desolate parts of America looking for employment. This isolation of financial problems is the very cause of everybody’s employment on the ranch but this subject is brought up by Slim
“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 suggests the themes of weakness and

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

In “Of Mice and Men”, there is an immense concept of solitude and loneliness which is smothered all over the characters and story. This concept leads to characters becoming isolated and the forging of an emerging idea, loneliness damages people. This story starts with a fitting and supporting metaphor, “A few miles south of Soledad…..”, this opening sentence is announcing the first major theme of the book and is fascinating how Steinbeck has implicated it; Soledad in Spanish is translated as Solitude, if you then replace Soledad with Solitude you get, “A few miles south of Solitude”. So the setting of the novella is set a few miles away from solitude which furthermore implies that the location is almost at complete loneliness.
However this quote is not just a fitting metaphor but an implication of foreshadow which the book is absolutely teeming with. Foreshadow becomes to play a massive part in the plot of the novella and forecasts a range of events that Steinbeck subtly sets into motion. Overall the book is focused on complete realism, that every action has a consequence and that every comment has an effect on different characters.

Isolation

Steinbeck uses
Prejudice – Sexism, Racism, purpose.
Characters – Crooks, Curley’s wife, Candy and Lennie.

Dreams – The Fat of the land, rabbits, Show biz.
Characters – Curley’s wife, Lennie, Candy and George.

Setting – Soledad, The Great Depression
Characters – George and Lennie.

Weakness – Curley’s wife is vulnerable, Lennie is incapable, George can’t fight for his dream and Curley resents being a small man.

Quote of isolation

Slim looked through George and beyond him. “Ain’t 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.” (2.179)

It’s really interesting that this comment comes from Slim. Of course, it characterizes how all those people drifting in poverty across the country and looking for work are feeling, but Slim’s the ranch’s own local megastar. He, who can do no wrong, intimidate any man, and kill a fly with a bull whip, seems to have the same feelings as everybody else about the whole world. It’s a lonely and scary place.

Isolation in psychology is;

“a person, often shy or lacking in social skills, who either avoids the company of others or has no friends within a group.”

Steinbeck uses a variety of different methods to demonstrate isolations grip on the ranch in the novella. For example the use of the colloquial voice of the characters implies isolation. For instance,

“Aint’ 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 is a quote from Curley’s wife who is primarily isolated because she is the only woman on the farm, therefore creating a sexual boundary between her and the rest of the ranch members, who see her as a tart.

Her isolation is also fuelled from her marriage to Curley; who’s hot tempered and aggressive nature is another reason why ranch members don’t want to have any relation to her. On top of everything else, Curley is also possessive towards his wife, he doesn’t allow her to talk to anyone but himself consequently creating a mask of fear around his wife, making her a risk to have any connection to, isolating her from anyone but Curley.

Ultimately this isolation is the cause of her loneliness and causes her to wander about the ranch looking for company. Hence her always looking for Curley is just a subject to start a conversation on. However in this quote she reveals to Lennie that she doesn’t have a clue as to why she is being isolated by the farm members and is oblivious to the immense risk that anyone who talks to her is going through.

the empty mind of kyron contains no form of focus whilst trying to create two descriptive pieces of writing that takes place in the same setting but at different times as there is a void in his right section brain where all the creative and imaginative thoughts are deprived from. Little does he know that where he lacks the given work he was supposed to do he created a piece of literature that he could actually call English work.

SLIM

John Steinbeck describes Slim as a “God-like” character who has an “understanding beyond thought”, which gives the reader the idea that Slim is an intelligent and understanding character that thinks deeper than the average american at that time. These descriptions are the foundations of Slim’s character and purpose in “Of Mice and Men”. This is firstly because of Slim’s role in the plot of the novel, he plays the role of the incredibly talented Skinner who seems to converse with one of the main characters, George.
Throughout the conversations between Slim and George, there is evidence that there is a large amount of understanding and respect between each of the characters. This is because, during one of their conversations George talks about his and Lennie’s own past in Weed which could have been disastrous, if spread, to their jobs on the farm. (Note that Slim is also a character without a revealing back-story.)
However underneath the plot of the book Steinbeck gives an underlying purpose to almost all the characters including Slim. Slim’s purpose in the book is to be the American role-model for all men at the time of the Great Depression. This is because Slim  thinks on a different level than the other characters on the farm and respects almost everybody including Crooks, this furthermore  relates towards “The American dream” and that  “All men are created equal” ; this overall, gives Slim an atmosphere of deference.

Great Depression

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in 1930 and lasted until the late 1930s or middle 1940s.^[1] It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century.^[2]

In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world’s economy can decline.^[2] The depression originated in the U.S., after the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday).

The Great Depression had devastating effects in countries rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33%.^[3]

Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by approximately 60%.^[4][5][6] Facing plummeting demand with few alternate sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as cash cropping, mining and logging suffered the most.^[7]

Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. In many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the end of World War II.^[8]

Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, optimism persisted for some time; John D. Rockefeller said that “These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again.”[11] The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April. This was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929.

Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut back their expenditures by ten percent. Likewise, beginning in mid-1930, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the US.

By mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed.^[13] By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930; but then a deflationary spiral started in 1931. Conditions were worse in farming areas, where commodity prices plunged, and in mining and logging areas, where unemployment was high and there were few other jobs.

The decline in the US economy was the factor that pulled down most other countries at first, then internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better. Frantic attempts to shore up the economies of individual nations through protectionistpolicies, such as the 1930 U.S. Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act and retaliatory tariffs in other countries, exacerbated the collapse in global trade. By late 1930, a steady decline in the world economy had set in, which did not reach bottom until 1933.

Economic indicators

Change in economic indicators 1929–32^[14]

	United States	Great Britain	France	Germany
Industrial production	–46%	–23%	–24%	–41%
Wholesale prices	–32%	–33%	–34%	–29%
Foreign trade	–70%	–60%	–54%	–61%
Unemployment	+607%	+129%	+214%	+232%

Causes

Main article: Causes of the Great Depression

Crowd gathering at the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street after the 1929 crash.

There were multiple causes for the first downturn in 1929. These include the structural weaknesses and specific events that turned it into a major depression and the manner in which the downturn spread from country to country. In relation to the 1929 downturn, historians emphasize structural factors like major bank failures and the stock market crash. In contrast, monetarist economists (such as Barry Eichengreen, Milton Friedmanand Peter Temin) point to monetary factors such as actions by the US Federal Reservethat contracted the money supply, as well as Britain’s decision to return to the gold standard at pre–World War I parities (US$4.86:£1).

Recessions and business cycles are thought to be a normal part of living in a world of inexact balances between supply and demand. What turns a normal recession or ‘ordinary’ business cycle into a depression is a subject of much debate and concern. Scholars have not agreed on the exact causes and their relative importance. The search for causes is closely connected to the issue of avoiding future depressions.

Thus, the personal political and policy viewpoints of scholars greatly color their analysis of historic events occurring eight decades ago.^{[citation needed]} An even larger question is whether the Great Depression was primarily a failure on the part of free markets or a failure of government efforts to regulate interest rates, curtail widespread bank failures, and control the money supply. Those who believe in a larger economic role for the state believe that it was primarily a failure of free markets, while those who believe in a smaller role for the state believe that it was primarily a failure of government that compounded the problem.^{[citation needed]}

Current theories may be broadly classified into two main points of view and several heterodox points of view. There are demand-driven theories, most importantly Keynesian economics, but also including those who point to the breakdown of international trade, andInstitutional economists who point to underconsumption and over-investment (causing an economic bubble), malfeasance by bankers and industrialists, or incompetence by government officials. The consensus among demand-driven theories is that a large-scale loss of confidence led to a sudden reduction in consumption and investment spending. Once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could avoid further losses by keeping clear of the markets. Holding money became profitable as prices dropped lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods, exacerbating the drop in demand.

There are the monetarists, who believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but that significant policy mistakes by monetary authorities (especially the Federal Reserve), caused a shrinking of the money supply which greatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression. Related to this explanation are those who point to debt deflationcausing those who borrow to owe ever more in real terms.

There are also various heterodox theories that downplay or reject the explanations of the Keynesians and monetarists. For example, some new classical macroeconomists have argued that various labor market policies imposed at the start caused the length and severity of the Great Depression. The Austrian school of economics focuses on the macroeconomic effects of money supply, and how central banking decisions can lead to over-investment (economic bubble).