How Does Steinbeck Present Lennie's Friendship

Other than trust, accepting each other is a key role in their friendship. George accepts Lennie with his mental disability which is why they have a strong friendship. Lennie is extremely strong so when fighting Curley, George sticks up for Lennie, “‘Get him, Lennie. Don’t let him do it’” (Steinbeck 63). Since Lennie is extremely strong, George knows that he should let Lennie stick up for himself and not allow Curley to make him feel weak and inferior to the rest. George also accepts the fact that Lennie cannot remember tons of information that he has been told, “‘I’ll tell ya again. I ain’t got nothing better to do. Might jus’ as well spen’ all my time tellin’ you things and then you forget ‘em, and I tell you again’” (Steinbeck 4). This shows

    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,

He can rarely think for himself and make his own decision. “I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you were by yourself” (Steinbeck, p. 14). George does not trust lennie to live by himself. He thinks Lennie would not be able to hold his own and get a job. George is sympathetic towards lennie so he lets lennie stay with him. Lennie Would make a mistake like touching a girl for too long and hurting her which would cause everyone to run after him and he could not do that without George. This makes us sympathetic toward george because he makes bad decisions and gets himself into a lot of

I didn’t mean to do any harm, George. Honest, I didn’t. I just wanted to pet ‘um a little” (Steinbeck 96). Lennie is compared to a child, he can’t even follow basic understandings. He is so stuck up on having a pup that he doesn’t even think about what he’s doing.

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.

Throughout a good relationship of any kind, there will always be good and bad arguments, fights, and troubles, but it should never be unstable. Throughout the book Of Mice of Men, the relationship between George and Lennie is shown to be an argumentative but respectful relationship which keeps it in balance. But Curley and his wife’s relationship is a mess of fear and disrespect for each other. The relationship of George and Lennie compared to Curley and his wife’s relationship shows that there will need to be a mutual effort, understanding, and respect for one another to have a working relationship. The relationship between George and Lennie is one that reflects respect for the efforts both put in.

"Of Mice and Men" is a book about two men and their struggle to achieve their dream of owning a small ranch through their companionship. The two men are completely different, one being a retarded fellow (Lennie), and the other, a typical ranch hand(George) who travels with him. On the path to achieving their dream, they run into obstacles, but stick together, stressing the importance of true friendship. Steinbeck wrote this book to tell us how important it is to have a friend to share your life with.

Steinbeck focuses on the idea of being lonely, George is one of the first that Steinbeck introduces as a lonely character. While George and Lennie are sitting by the river, George explains to Lennie what kind of men they are. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.” (page 13) George tells Lennie, that men like them are lonely, that all they do is work. George is a quiet character he doesn’t talk much, unless it's to Lennie. When he does talk to the ranchmen he doesn’t say much about his life or his family, or anything personal. While Steinbeck allows readers to

Good friendships make life easier. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about two men, George and Lennie, who go on various journeys in order to get a job. Although George would consider Lennie to be his closest friend, he ultimately ends up shooting and killing Lennie. George did this, not out of hatred, but rather out of protection. A good friend will always want what is best for one another. Steinbeck uses his protagonists’ friendship in order to show that true friendship can help make any of life’s hardships less difficult.

I could also notice when I was reading through the first chapter that George has a sense of authority over Lennie, “you gonna get that wood”. This is like a parent telling a child to do his chores. On some occasions though George shows a bit of hatred towards Lennie, he thinks of what he could have if Lennie wasn’t around and contrasts that with George.

“Look, George. Look what I done” (Steinbeck, Pg. 3). Here Steinbeck gives us the idea that Lennie looks up to George in everything he does like a child does to his parents. Lennie can’t take of himself since he is mentally handicapped so we get an idea that even though they are just friends, George is like a father figure to Lennie. Also by the word choice in the dialogue we can see that Lennie communicates in a particular way like if he just learn to speak, therefore he could be compared as a child. “I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ strokin’ it.” Steinbeck uses dialogue to give us an idea of George’s strong personality. “Don’t let him pull you in-but- if the son of a bitch” This quote gives us the idea that George’s personality is very strong and defensive by the explicit language which shows us anger. Also it gives us a idea that even though he is strong and aggressive he cares about what happens to Lennie. This can relate to the link that he treats him like he is his

Analytical Essay During the 1930’s, 1.3 million Americans from the Midwest and Southwest migrated to California, for work and pay during the harsh times. Many men went alone and worked hard to get their pay, most didn’t mind much about others, except a few lucky ones. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck tells an interesting story on two migrant workers. Lennie Small and George Milton, who have an unbreakable bond and travel together to their new workplace where they plan to stay and earn money so that one day they will own an acre of land and a shack.

The greater part of the novel's appeal, George and Lennie's relationship, although far from what one could call a reciprocal friendship, intrigues the reader in the same way many comic duos intrigue. It is easy to identify with the "smart guy" who helplessly tries to cope with and control his irrational, dumb and, yet, spontaneous, child-like partner as they lurch from one self-inflicted crisis to another. Steinbeck uses that classic comic routine so that the reader warmly identifies and recognizes the relationship. Steinbeck's narrator establishes and characterizes George's lording of power and control over Lennie early in the first chapter:

George and Lennie take care of one another. “…George says, eat these beans I made for you Lennie.”(Steinbeck 10). The second reason is that George and Lennie get in a fight, and Lennie asks George if he should leave, but George says, “… I want you to stay here with me because me and

In the beginning of the book George wanted to be alone; he knew that he could be but Lennie would be all alone and would most likely die. Steinbeck stated “God a’mighty if I was alone I could go live so easy” this shows that he really cares about Lennie and even though he is a pain, he still wants Lennie to be okay. As the book progresses, George starts to change his mind about being alone; he starts playing games with the other men. Instead of playing solitaire, he started playing horseshoes. In the last sentence of chapter 6 right after he shoots Lennie, George seemed to realize that he didn’t want to be alone after all, Lennie was his only real friend and now he gets to be lonely but it’s not at all how he imagined it.