Of Mice And Men Isolation Analysis

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Pages: 2

Loneliness and isolation recur in the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The loneliest character of the book was Lennie. Lennie was the only character in the book who had a mental disability, he often doesn’t know why he does some of the things he does. Lennie finds calm in petting soft objects, often mice. He sometimes accidentally kills the mice by pinching their necks if they bite his finger or hi petting too hard. “I’d pet the, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and i pinch their heads a little and then they was dead- because they were so little”
During this time period, people were uneducated about mental disabilities therefore, people think he is dumb and foolish. For example George said “You’d drink out of a gutter if you was thirsty.”They also don’t understand why Lennie doesn’t comprehend with what the people around him are trying to convey. Because of this, he often gets yelled and cursed at like when George said “You son of a bitch. You keep me in hot water.”
Even though Lennie was always with George, he was still isolated from society. He was forced to remain silent and
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He uses this imagery to show how Lennie was very different than the workers at the ranch in Salinas Valley. He often describes Lennie with traits of a bear, Lennie dabbled his paw in the water; He walked heavily, his feet dragging like paws of a bear; Curley was white and shrunken by now… he stood crying, his fist lost in Lennie's paw.” This use of animalistic adjectives can mean many things. For one, Lennie is described as having the strength of a bull. Additionally, Steinbeck might have meant to imply that Lennie is unable to control himself just as an animal is not able to contain themselves in most situations as would a human. These descriptions are used by Steinbeck to signify Lennie's great strength; how he has such dominance over his opponent when in a physical situation, but also intellectually