Of Mice and Men Themes

Of Mice and Men Themes

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  • Created by: Sanchia
  • Created on: 23-05-11 19:28

Loneliness

*   Profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Each desires the comfort of a friend, but will settle for the attentive ear of a stranger.

*   Curley’s wife admits she is unhappily married

*   Crooks tells Lennie that life is no good without a companion to turn to in times of confusion and need

*   George opens up to Slim

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Human Nature

*   Even at their weakest, they seek to destroy those who are even weaker than they

*   Crooks criticizes Lennie’s dream of the farm and his dependence on George

*   Curley’s wife has a go at Crooks, Candy and Lennie

*   Crooks seems at his strongest when he has nearly reduced Lennie to tears for fear that something bad has happened to George

*   Curley’s wife feels most powerful when she threatens to have Crooks lynched.

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Friendship

*   The farm on which George and Lennie plan to live—a place that no one ever reaches—has a magnetic quality, as Crooks points out. After hearing a description of only a few sentences, Candy is completely drawn in by its magic. Crooks has witnessed countless men fall under the same silly spell, and still he cannot help but ask Lennie if he can have a patch of garden to *** there. The men in Of Mice and Men desire to come together in a way that would allow them to be like brothers to one another.

*   George and Lennie have each other unlike other ranchers who have no family, friends or future

*   All crave companionship “A guy needs somebody – to be near to him”

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The Impossibility of the American Dream

*   Curley’s wife confesses her desire to be a movie star

*   Crooks, bitter as he is, allows himself the pleasant fantasy of hoeing a patch of garden on Lennie’s farm one day

*   Candy latches on desperately to George’s vision of owning a couple of acres

*   The dream holds their friendship together

*   Keeps Lennie happy and stops George from becoming mean and lonely

*   Crooks is right: such paradises of freedom, contentment, and safety are not to be found in this world.

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Comments

SGT Griffy

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Very useful..thanks :)

lexy porter

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these were so helpful!!!! ***

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