Mice and Men

Isolation in Steinbeck's of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men is a novelette by John Steinbeck that is filled with isolated characters desperate to latch onto the American dream. The dream of the protagonists, George and Lennie, is to have a place of their own in Depression-Era southern California. Things look promising as the itinerant workers get jobs on a farm, make friends, and devise a plan to make the dream possible. The problem, however, is that George and Lennie get in the way of themselves -- Lennie by being Lennie, and George by abandoning his role as "brother's keeper" for a night on the town. An accidental death suddenly has Lennie running for his life (which, George decides, he has no chance of saving). George, therefore, shoots and kills his friend before the mob can have at him. George is left to cope with the...
[ View Full Essay]