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Disparities And Friendship

Decent Essays

“As the years progress one increasingly realises the importance of friendship and human solidarity. And if a 90-year-old may offer some unsolicited advice on this occasion, it would be that you, irrespective of your age, should place human solidarity, the concern for the other, at the centre of the values by which you live.” -Nelson Mandela

John Steinbeck’s tragic fictional story Of Mice and Men tells the tale of two ambitious friends, George and Lennie. Together they work hard for a better life during the great depression. Friendship is rough, full of ups and downs. However, quality bonds between people makes life easier. To have no friends or any social connections is hard and destructive which is why Steinbeck represents the importance …show more content…

Caring for another person isn't always easy. The Harvard study of Adult Development followed 700 men for 75 years, and found that people are most happy when they have good quality relationships in life. Speaker Robert Waldinger explains, there are no two people who love each other who don't fight, that's normal. "And those good relationships, they don't have to be smooth all the time. Some of our oxygenarian couples would bicker day in and day out, but as long as they felt they could really count on each other when the going got tough, those arguments didn't take a toll on their memories " ( Ted talk, “What makes a good life?). Throughout the novella we see that George can be very harsh on Lennie because of Lennie’s naive behaviour, however their dysfunctional friendship helps them to avoid chronic loneliness. Of Mice and Men highlights the dejection of being alone. Lennie is talking to Crooks in his isolated shed, when Crooks starts telling Lennie how lonely his life really is. "Maybe you can see how you got George s’pose you didn't have nobody else… S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play runny because you black… A guy need somebody to be near him... I tell you a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick” (Steinbeck 73). Crooks is left out and lonely because of his color. Life for him is desolate. Crooks tells Lennie that that if he had a companion or at least someone to talk to his experiences

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