Analytical Essay On “of Mice And Men” By John Steinbeck

Another person who is tormented from isolation is Curley’s wife. She is tormented from a different kind of isolation caused by her husband. All the workers at the ranch are scared to talk to and interact with Curley’s wife as, his dad owns the ranch. Therefore we don’t even know Curley’s wife’s name as in the book as she was never asked. Curley is described as a jealous man but really he does not pay any attention, or give any time to his wife.

She is longing for a life long companion to share her view and dilemmas with which she has not found Curley.

She recognises this and repeatedly says at different times “What’s the matter with me? Ain’t I got the right to talk to nobody? ” she is seeking sympathy and friendship. To relieve her solitude she dresses nicely, flirts with the workers and wears a lot of make up as she wants attention.

She also has not got familiarity with speaking to people because when she was speaking to Lennie. She wanted to say all she had to say in an outburst. What’s more she kept on asking Lennie if he was listening, showing she wanted to be heard. Throughout the whole book unfulfillment is a major theme.

Even though the whole ranch and its workers long for bit of land and a small house of their own the major characters have their dreams emphasized. Firstly George and Lennie have had a Life long dream of having a small house and a bit of land. Which was not accomplished as Lennie at the end of the book was shot. Secondly there was Curley’s wife who had vast acting talent and was invited to go to Hollywood and act but was limited and was held back by Curley. She was denied her dream and therefore suffered further grief and loneliness.

Thirdly there was Crook’s who had a dream of being treated equally as all the others. He wanted people to not take in to consideration his colour and just allow him to interact with others like anyone else. This also was an unfulfilled dream as he was never accepted by the white community and constantly treated like an outsider. Finally there was Candy who was involved in George and Lennie’s dream which was also incomplete and therefore unaccomplished. The setting of the book “Of Mice and Men” was set in the 1930’s.

A good quality indication of how the times were in those days is that in the book Slim is a man who is given a lot of respect. He is superior to all the workers, but in a special way as he is liked by everyone unlike he other leaders. Slim in the book is a great man who is a great worker, a great friend, a good listener, a good peace maker. Nevertheless he still is not running his own business. This shows that you have to be really rich or extremely special to be a business man. Basically I believe the book states that loneliness is an inevitable fact of life which not even the strongest can avoid.