Of Mice and Men themes

Question 1

Loneliness

Answer 1

All but Lennie and George suffer with extreme loneliness throughout the book. Although there’s multiple characters, none of them really possess the social skills or time to trust one another truly. The only connection the characters have, not including Lennie and George, are certain levels of respect or, if a type of friendship is attempted, it’s usually only the attentive ear of a friend. Most characters consider feeling alone to be quite normal.

Question 2

The American Dream

Answer 2

All characters have some kind of inspirational dream. Be it freedom, love, friendship or even owning your very own ranch, all characters have one.

Question 3

Human nature

Answer 3

All characters admit to having a profound sense of isolation throughout the novel. However, even at their weakest, almost all characters seek to destroy the livelihood of weaker characters; making themselves feel as though they have some kind of power.

Question 4

Power vs. Powerless

Answer 4

Probably the most obvious theme. The most substantial being physical strength and its great ability, but also mental intelligence and manipulation. Although Lennie is very powerful physically, he is stupid, and this means he can easily be overpowered by even the smallest intelligent person. Then there’s also power through class. Curly is the son of the boss and has power over the workers because of that.