Soledad means loneliness. Discuss why this is relevant in Of Mice and Men.
Soledad meaning loneliness is relevant in ‘Of Mice and Men’ for three main reasons
These reasons are the fact that the characters George and Lennie are travelling
together in Soledad and they are often shown as lonely, the erratic portrayal of the
character Curley’s Wife, and the shown emotions of the character Crooks.
The characters George and Lennie in ‘Of Mice and Men’ are shown at the beginning
of the book travelling together in Soledad. Although they are travelling together,
George really feels alone. You know George really is feeling alone when he says "I
ain't got no people. I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no
good. . . 'Course Lennie's a God damn nuisance most of the time, but you get used to
goin' around with a guy an' you can't get rid of him” (45). This proves that even
though George and Lennie travel together, the fact of the matter is, George is
essentially still as lonely as if he was alone anyway.
In addition to what was said above regarding George and Lennie, an equally
important character to this subject is Curley’s Wife. This character was truly a
complex one, and John Steinbeck managed to show her both as a flirtatious woman
who wasn’t satisfied, but also in a deeper context as a very lonely woman, who needs
comfort and companionship. The loneliness and resentment in her is shown well when
she says “Wha’s the matter with me...Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (86).
Conversely, the flirtatiousness in her is shown equally as well when Candy says,
“Well she got the eye” (29), saying that Curley’s Wife is always giving other men
flirtatious looks. As shown above, Curley’s Wife is not only flirtatious as she is so
forwardly portrayed, but also very lonely.
Finally, the character Crooks is shown as extremely lonely throughout the parts of the
book that he is included. Crooks is excluded from all of the other characters for one
reason, because he is black. The characters in the book really show the epitome of
racism, and this is exemplified through the emotions of Crooks. He is shown so
obviously as an extremely lonely person who resents most as a result of the
resentment he receives, which is shown perfectly when he says to Lennie “A guy
needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make
no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too
lonely an' he gets sick" (80). And so, as was have described above, Crooks is clearly
extremely lonely.
The above arguments clearly show that Soledad meaning loneliness is extremely
relevant in the book ‘Of Mice and Men’. You may wonder how the characters’
loneliness makes a difference to the relevance of Soledad. This is simple. A Country,
a city, or a town cannot be lonely in itself; however the people that reside in it can.
Looking closely at the above arguments, each of the characters mentioned resides in
Soledad, and so they technically reside in ‘Loneliness’. The characters are all
incredibly lonely in their own way, which shows that Soledad was used as a metaphor
to represent this. “Those who reside in Loneliness are doomed to be lonely”. And so it
is proven why Soledad meaning loneliness is relevant to the book ‘Of Mice and Men’.