Loneliness in Of Mice and Men Essay -- Literary Analysis

In today's society, group or even a family anyone who believe they do not belong can feel â€Å"lonely.† Loneliness can be one of the most depressing feelings experienced. Of Mice and Men takes place on a ranch in California during the early 1930s. There many negative viewpoints about certain sexes and races had not yet been resolved. Women and African Americans were perceived as lesser individuals when compared to any white male American, despite the fact that the country was on the turn of the century and thereby beginning to accept all people as equals. Another group of people that did not get much respect and was treated poorly was the mentally challenged. Not until the 1930s was anyone who was mentally retarded and considered crazy, treated respectfully as individuals. Even though it was tough for all Americans during this period of time their American Dream like anybody else was difficult. John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, in 1902. Steinbeck went to Stanford University in 1919, where he enrolled in literature and writing courses until he left in 1925 empty handed without a degree. During the next five years he supported himself as a laborer and journalist in New York City and then as a caretaker for a Lake Tahoe estate, all the time working on his first novel, Cup of Gold (1929). He published two California fictions, The Pastures of Heaven (1932) and To a God Unknown (1933); he also worked on short stories later collected in The Long Valley (1938). A ceaseless experimenter throughout his career, Steinbeck changed courses regularly. Three powerful novels of the late 1930s focused on the California laboring class: In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), and the book considered by many his finest, The Grape... ...ich the feeling of individualism and how lonesome people have become during the Great Depression. Men are trapped in a set of relations which work like fate/ Americans will continue to dream, the nation will live out the true religious belief all men are created equal. [Reith 3] List of Works Cited Reith, Duncan. â€Å"Futile dreams and stagnation: politics in Of Mice and Men: the American novelist John Steinbeck has sometimes been criticized as a sentimentalist. Duncan Reith uncovers the bleak political pessimism behind his novel of ranch life during the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men.† The English Review Nov, 2004: 6+. Literature Resource Center: Web. 29 Nov. 2010. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id-GALE%7CA125878389&v=2.1&u=klnb_kanstlib&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w Gale Document Number: GALE|A125878389 Steinbeck, John. â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, 1937