Friendship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Someone once said that “A true friend accepts who you are, but also helps you to become who you should be”. Back in the Great Depression in the 1920s, friendship was a term that was rarely used. John Steinbeck’s short novel Of Mice and Men, which took place at the same time, defies that theory and instead, two men, named George and Lennie, are inseparable after Lennie’s Aunt Clara passed away. Saying this, he decided to come along with his friend named George. Lennie is a man with a disability; one that can not necessarily be fixed. George was mostly a hard-working man who had no trouble when it came to getting jobs. When Lennie started to work with him, however, finding jobs became tough because wherever the two men went, trouble followed.…show more content…
Lennie is a disabled man who acts childish. Most people would think he is a tough guy because of his muscular build, but he is very soft at heart. When Curley picks a fight with Lennie “[He] covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror” (Steinbeck 63). Although George was probably thinking of helping Lennie out, he knew that Lennie could do it and he just needed some sort of encouragement. After Lennie called out to George, George shouted back “’Get him Lennie. Don’t let him do it’” (Steinbeck 63). George is looking out for Lennie and he knows that Lennie can do it. This also shows that George believes in him and the encouragement itself helped Lennie. The next second after George told Lennie to get Curley, “… [Curley’s] closed fist was flopping like a fish in Lennie’s big hand” (Steinbeck 63). Lennie had listened to George’s cries of encouragement and put his words into action. At the end of the book when Lennie got into trouble by killing Curley’s wife, he remembered to go to the brush that George had told him to go to. At the end of the book when Lennie got into trouble by killing Curley’s wife, he remembered to go to the brush that George had told him to go to. Just like how Candy’s dog was old and putrid, which led to Carlson asking to kill him but Candy regretted letting a stranger killing his beloved dog, “[George] pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106) on his best companion and friend because he knew that someone else would have to kill Lennie if he did not. Lennie and George are looking out for each other because George does not want to let him best friend be killed by someone he does not know. Instead, he took matters into his own hands and shot Lennie
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