How Does Steinbeck Characterize Lennie's Friendship

”So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do”(Steinbeck 41). After this George helps Lennie leave the town so he doesn’t go to a mental institute. George is always looking out for Lennie and will not let anything happen to him.

George takes care of Lennie many ways. George has taken care of Lennie for a long time. George took him under his wing even though he didn’t need to. George genuinely cares for Lennie. He feeds him, makes sure he is safe, also he gives him hope. George is constantly watching Lennie. George is a good friend to Lennie; however, George gets annoyed with Lennie very easily. He does this to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble or lost. He never leaves him by himself. This is shown when Lennie offers to leave, but George tells him “I want you to stay with me Lennie”(Steinbeck 104). George really cares for Lennie.

Any good person does not want to watch a friend to be hurt, and George is no exception. George is most worried for Lennie when Curley says ‘“i’m gonna shoot the guts outta that big dumb bastard myself, even if i only got one hand.”’ (steinbeck 48). this is when Curley, Slim and Carlson are getting together to find Lennie and hurt him and kill him. George thought

    George took Lennie in after Lennie’s aunt died. George knew his aunt pretty well. Lennie had nowhere to go afterwards, so George let Lennie come along with him. George wasn’t always nice to Lennie in the beginning. George would tease him and trick him. Lennie didn’t know any better than to listen to George, even if it was a taunt. After an incident happened to Lennie, George stopped tormenting him. He felt bad for Lennie and how he treated him. From this moment on, George actually took into consideration of Lennie’s mindset. In the book, Steinbeck writes,

George and Lennie have a strong bond of friendship that makes them both feel like they are actually somebody. For example, “ ‘I been mean ain’t I?’ ‘If you don’t want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time.’ ‘No—look! I was jus’ foolin, Lennie, cause I want you to stay with me.’” (p.14) This shows that George actually wants Lennie to be thought of as one of his friends, not as a doll that he can just kick around. The quote also shows that George cares for Lennie tremendously and really understands how Lennie feels. Secondly, Lennie feels the same way back at George “But not us! An’ why? Because…. Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” (p.15). This is a good example

It states in the book on page 90 that, “Lennie never done it in meanness,” George said. “All the time he done bad things, but he never done one of ‘em mean.” This means Lennie doesn't know when he's hurting someone and he doesn’t mean to hurt

Because of the infantile and trivial characteristics of which Lennie is portrayed with in the first chapter of Of Mice and Men, the author, John Steinbeck, is deemed unsuccessful to exemplify Lennie as one to feel sympathy towards. It is only within a few pages of this novella that we begin to feel a bit of disapprobation towards Lennie's actions. This being when "His hand went into the pocket again. George looked sharply at him. 'What'd you take outa that pocket?' 'Ain't a thing in my pocket,' Lennie said cleverly."(Page 3) Immediately after reviewing this quote, Lennie's primary goal became quite obvious. This goal being that he is trying to instigate George, his acquaintance, into committing acts of frustration for his own amusement. This is especially emphasized when Steinbeck uses

George says he wants Lennie to stay with him because george is trying to keep lennie from getting hurt or even killed. “Lennie never done it in meanness,” he said. “All the time he done bad things but he never done any of ‘em mean - (95). This quote shows George sticking up for lennie because lennie did something he wasn't supposed to. George is always looking out for lennie as if he were his little brother.

It was clear from the beginning of the book that Lennie had caused George a great amount of trouble in the long time the two had known each other. We learned that George and Lennie had been forced to run away from Weed because Lennie “wants to touch ever’thing he likes,” (Steinbeck, 41), and he grabbed a woman’s dress, and “the girl lets out a squawk,” (Steinbeck, 41), and all Lennie did was hold the dress tighter, which upset her so

His reaction was to not move and he would not let go of her dress. Only when George “socked him over the head with a fence picket to make him let go,” did Lennie realize what was happening (Steinbeck 38). Another similar incident occurs in chapter five, when Lennie accidentally murders Curley’s wife. Lennie had been alone in the barn and still mourning over the death of his pup (he had accidentally just killed the pup), when Curley's wife entered the barn.

I was jus’ foolin’, Lennie. “Cause I want you to stay with me.” (Steinbeck page 13). Well yes Lennie was kind of manipulating George but we do see that right here he shows that he indeed cares about the well being of Lennie.

Lennie depends on George for physical and emotional support. Lennie can’t do things by himself and he doesn’t always make right decisions. Lennie can’t get a job for himself, he forgets things, and he can’t earn money to feed himself. Lennie’s dependency on George can be seen through the scene where George talks to the boss in order to get the job and not make him feel suspicious about Lennie’s situation. "No, he ain't, but he's sure a hell of a good worker.

In the book ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck is showing the importance of friendship and relationships between two friends George Milton, and Lennie Smalls. George Milton and Lennie Smalls are ranch workers who are looking for a job. Without a permanent home to live in. They try to find a place they could work during the 1930s, which was the Great Depression. During the story, the protagonist Lennie is childish, strong, and impulsive.

Although Lennie is not very smart and he distracts George, they are still great friends. “I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. They ain’t no good.” (41) Clearly George appreciates the fact that he has Lennie with him, but if Lennie was gone and George still worked, he would be messed in the

George wouldn’t be able to live with himself any longer if he let Lennie keep destroying things. Despite Lennie being his friend, and a companion, he put his personal interests aside for the benefit everyone else. George understands that the only way he can live with himself is if he kills Lennie. Another example of this is when Walter decides he is going to be the one to kill Lennie. He didn’t want to see Lennie go by Curley’s gun, so he took matters into his own hands.