Isolation In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Words: 794
Pages: 4
Open Document
When people become isolated, they often can lose their true self. They start doing things that in a normal situation they would not do. Both John Steinbeck and Susan Glaspell conveyed this through their pieces, “Of Mice and Men” and “Trifles” respectively. In ‘Of Mice and Men’ Curley’s wife, the wife of the ranch owner’s son, is the only woman on the ranch and is always left at her house without anyone to talk to or anything to do. In “Trifles”, Mrs. Wright is trapped in a discontent marriage with her unpersonable husband Mr. Wright. Using the confined lives of Curley’s wife and Mrs. Wright, Steinbeck and Glaspell convey that loneliness and isolation causes a loss of humanity.

Curley’s wife’s attention-deprived life on the farm as …show more content…
Wright freedomless marriage to the unpersonable Mr. Wright led to her murdering her own husband when he killed Mrs. Wright’s yellow canary, which was her last and only companion. Mrs. Hale empathizes about how Mrs. Wright must have felt when she found her yellow canary dead. “If there’d been years and years of nothing, then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful--still, after the bird was still.” The ladies find the canary dead and are appalled. They feel the eerie quietness that Mrs. Wright had to encounter on a daily basis so much that a lively bird that sang felt weird for them in such a cloistered environment. Mrs. Hale sympathizes that ‘it would be awful--still, after the bird was still’ implying that the stillness after the bird had died is much worse than the stillness before the bird had died, because it is often more painful to lose something than to never have had it at all. Mrs. Wright used to be happy and sang. At that time she was known as Minnie Foster, but after her marriage to Mr. Wright, she just became known as a very generic Mrs. Wright. The bird had been killed by its neck being wrung, which is a slow and a painful way of murder, just like Mr. Wright had slowly and painfully suffocated the happiness from Mrs. Wright’s or Minnie Foster’s life. The bird is Mrs. Wright’s single and only companion since Mr. Wright is very aloof and limits her freedom by forcing her to stay home. Mrs. Wright takes out her frustration on Mr. Wright for killing the bird by strangling him. Her seclusion from common social interactions and the ‘years and years of nothing’ suddenly overcome her when the bird dies, lead to her to
Show More

Related Documents: Isolation In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The Role Of Isolation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, set in California around the 1930’s follows two men, George and Lennie, who struggle to fit into the world. The duo travel to a ranch in mid California in search of a job. The isolation that surrounds the people of the ranch in Of Mice and Men is the root of all their personal problems. Possibly the most obvious example of isolation in Of Mice and Men is Crooks. As a black man living during segregation, he faces both physical as well as emotional separation…

Words 704 - Pages 3

The Theme Of Isolation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck's 1930's novella focused on the reality of how difficult it can be to achieve the American Dream is a landmark piece of literature in American history. It manages to perfectly capture the life and mindset of those migrant workers chasing a dream they could never grab during the Great Depression in less than ninety pages. The various themes in this novel represent issues that had and still have a tight grasp on society, including the trouble marginalized groups of…

Words 385 - Pages 2

Isolation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Option Three Of Mice and Men Essay Throughout the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’. Steinbeck showed many characters that represent certain emotions, but to be specific one that really stood out, is the aspect of being lonely. For example Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife are advocates of showing this emotion by there actions and speech. In my personal opinion, Crooks had the toughest time. He’s a black man in 1920’s America, he’s served on the ranch a-lot longer than others, and doesn’t even…

Words 621 - Pages 3

The Role Of Isolation In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Soledad. Not only is this the name of the town in which the ranch is located on, but it means solitude; the state or situation of being alone. Two main themes proposed In Of Mice and Men written by George Steinbeck are social discrimination and isolation. Setting new standards, George and Lennie make quite the aberrant pair considering they travel together and pay no mind to the ideas of discrimination. You see, most ranch hands wouldn’t travel together. George claims "I seen the guys that go around…

Words 708 - Pages 3

of mice and men Essay

Critical Analysis of Mice and Men! ! ! Of Mice and Men is a commonly used work of literature due essentially to the form and the issues it raises. John Steinbeck’s use of dialogue, verses contextual description, makes the work accessible to younger readers, as does his use of repeating images. of equal importance is the way in which he throws in the themes of friendship and loneliness. By focusing on a group of loners, Steinbeck highlights the isolation and sense of being different that can seem…

Words 618 - Pages 3

Loneliness And Alienation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

and Alienation in “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men explores many recurring ideas and themes, one of the most prominent of which is alienation. Steinbeck’s characters live in a world plagued by loneliness and isolation. In the story of two migrant workers struggling to get by during the Great Depression, isolation has become the norm. Distrust is the quality of the modern world that causes people choose to live in isolation from each other. (“Of Mice and Men,” 246) racism and prejudice…

Words 1017 - Pages 5

Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, first published in 1937, is a novel set in the context of the 1929 Great Depression in America. The Nobel Prize-winning author tells a story about George Milton and Lennie Small, two drifters in search of work, while skilfully tackling the themes of loneliness and the importance of dreams. Steinbeck explores themes including loneliness and the importance of dreams by utilising setting, characterisation and the writing style of dialogue. The central theme of loneliness…

Words 774 - Pages 4

Thematic Analysis: Of Mice And Men

Research Paper Prejudice is displayed throughout John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, through racism, sexism, and injustice towards the mentally handicapped. The prejudice towards African Americans on the ranch causes Crooks to experience loneliness and heartache. Sexist attitudes regarding beauty as a person’s most important quality causes Curley’s wife to believe attractiveness is her only asset and she needs the attention of all the men on the ranch. Lennie feels like an outcast because George…

Words 1027 - Pages 5

What Is The Theme Of Loneliness In Of Mice And Men

Depression, many suffer from loneliness. Loneliness is a feeling of isolation and sadness because one has no friends or company. It was almost impossible to escape this feeling during the Great Depression. In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, many characters such as Crooks, and Curley's wife are lonely, therefore it has many consequences on the story. Although George and Lennie have each other, many characters in Of Mice and Men are pretty lonely. Some of these characters are Curley’s wife and Crooks…

Words 507 - Pages 3

Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Essay

Steinbeck told a story that startled bookshops. “Of Mice and Men” starkly reveals – with dexterity and integrity- the anxieties and depredations of the Depression Era in Western America. Steinbeck’s divine ability to intimately describe the plight of dispirited bindle stiffs stems from his own experience in the transient workforce. In his novella, Steinbeck addresses perennial issues of the unattainability of the American Dream, human isolation and loneliness. While these issues are all extremely…

Words 878 - Pages 4