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Of Mice and Men is centered around two itinerant workers, George and Lennie, in California in the 1930s as they start work on a ranch in a place called Sole-dad. The whole story takes place over a period of four days, starting on Thursday evening and ending on Sunday. While at the ranch, George and Lennie meet other characters, who emphasize the loneliness and difficulty of life for the people living and working in these places.

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The three main themes in Of Mice and Men are:

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The three main themes in Of Mice and Men are:

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dreams
loneliness
companionship

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Curley’s wife’s statements here are short and simple, reflecting her sparse and limited life on the ranch. She is shown to use only a few words here, in the same way as she speaks very few words in her day-to-day life. The word awful is used like we would use

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"I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely"

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Curley’s wife looks for company throughout the book, but never finds it because none of the other characters are willing to speak to her.

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Curley’s wife, represents how women are exempt from the American Dream, and appeared as less than equal to men. She developed a form of loneliness throughout the course of the novel. 

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The phrase face to face suggests that all of the men are the same and have the same reaction; they are not behaving as individuals.

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Candy is alone in his sadness about the dog being shot; no one will stand up for him and say that his dog should be allowed to live.

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"Candy looked for help from face to face."

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Candy's dog is shot and no one stands up for Candy. This could show how old people were treated and how no one considers their opinions.

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Racial slurs are used to describe Crooks frequently on the ranch. Crooks uses the language of the white men to describe himself, to show that he is aware of how little he is respected and how no thought is shown for his feelings.

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"This is just a nigger talkin’, an’ a busted-back nigger. So it don’t mean nothing, see?"

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The racism directed towards Crooks is very obvious and not hidden by the other characters on the ranch.

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Prior to the Great Depression, African Americans worked primarily in unskilled jobs. After the stock market crash of 1929, those entry-level, low-paying jobs either disappeared or were filled by whites in need of employment.

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The Great Depression made these problems worse: In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows a group of itinerant workers who were eaten up by lack of hope for a better life.

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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States

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John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception

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"George said softly,—I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would."

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George and Lennie’s dream is impossible once Lennie has killed Curley’s wife. Without Lennie, George cannot envision himself carrying on, and he realises that the dream was never really possible. This represents the hopelessness of men like them.

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"Sure,” said George. “All kin’s a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there. There wouldn’t be no more runnin’ round the country and gettin’ fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house."

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George and Lennie's dream for their future is to own their own farm, be their own boss, and that Lennie would tend rabbits.

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The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.