Discuss the theme of isolation and loneliness with reference to the characters in 'Of mice and men' by John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck's novel 'Of Mice and Men' is based on events that followed World War 1 and the collapse of the New York Wall Street stock market in 1929. The United States entered a prolonged period of economic depression. During this period of harsh poverty and long-term unemployment, hordes of migrant workers headed for California. Men, mostly travelling alone migrated from ranch to ranch on poorly paid, short-term contracts. President Roosevelt created a way to counteract the …

…the world. Because of this, he has to live the rest of his life, in guilt, alone and knowing that he killed his only friend. One of the most important lessons we learn in Of Mice and Men is that Friendship and human interaction are two very valuable things, and that having them is as much as a right as it is a privilege, that we much treasure as it keeps us away from loneliness.