‘A few miles south of Soledad…’. Soledad. Solitude. Within the first page of John Steinbeck’s novel, ‘Of Mice and Men’, Steinbeck’s main theme, isolation, is subliminally made clear; Soledad translating directly from Spanish as ‘solitude’. Here, Steinbeck has used foreshadowing as a method to demonstrate the theme, essentially setting the whole book a few miles away from ‘Loneliness’.
‘An’ he ain’t no good to him self.’ Throughout the book foreshadowing becomes evident, in this case Carlson talking about Candy’s dog. His comment towards Candy’s dog links to Lennie’s death; people’s opinion being that once something is nolonger useful, it has no value. The dog is subsequently shot, as is Lennie (foreshadowing evident). Companionship is overlooked, In addition to the gold mine of information this quote gives us, it shows the negativity displayed by the characters, repetition of the word ‘no’.
Draft for theme of isolation in of mice and men
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2 responses to “Draft for theme of isolation in of mice and men”
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Do you think that this paragraph would be a good introduction/start to my essay?
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This is a great idea for the introduction. I heartily encourage you to focus on the style of your essays – and the attention you are paying to trying to find interesting and subtle ways of expressing your ideas will pay off, as it will allow you to express still more sophisticated thoughts as you become more experienced with your writing.
In your goal of being original, never lose sight of the priority of clarity (this is more of a warning than a comment on the paragraph above, which is clear).
For it to completely succeed as a starter it would need to be followed by a paragraph that outlines the direction the essay will take in expanding on the idea of loneliness. It could be shorter and a little more functional – but without it you might lose your reader who will be enjoying the style of the writing so much they miss the points you’re developing.
I’m really looking forward to reading your final piece.
Mr Waugh
React!