One of the main themes of John Steinbeck is the
disfranchisement and the consequent alienation of those in the lower classes. Both his
magnum opus, The Grapes of Wrath and his
novella Of Mice and Men present this theme of
alienation.
This loneliness of the itinerant men in
Of Mice and Men generates cruelty and injustice in others as
exemplified in the characters of Curley and Carlson. George Milton expresses this
reality as he talks to the man with "God-like" eyes, Slim, the mule
skinner:
"I
seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. they don't have
no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin' to fight all the
time.""Yeah, they get mean," Slim agreed. "They get so
they don't want to talk to
nobody."
Much of this
aggression is also generated by fear in their aloneness. Lennie Small, whose character
Steinbeck wrote represented "the inarticulate and powerful yearning of all men"
certainly becomes aggressive in his fear.
It is only
through the fraternity of men, through friendship, that a man can measure himself, as
Crooks points out, and, thus, find meaning in his life. As Ma says in The
Grapes of Wrath, "...if all people who are shoved off the land get mad
together, they can take action."
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