Of Mice and Men - the Importance of George Essay

In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie and George have both similarities and differences that are revealed throughout the storyline. These comparisons and contrasts are used to explain their unique friendship and dependency on one another. The story begins with the description of their physical and intellectual differences and establishes their roles of who is the dominant one. The story shares the obstacles that have stood in the way of them obtaining their “American Dream” to own land, even if they if they have different motivations. The story concludes with the difficult choice that George makes to end Lennie’s life himself, out of his love for his friend.

George’s tone is accusatory which shows that he is astute. He then continues to bombard Lennie with questions, which gives Lennie the chance to demonstrate another type of power – his cunning. He attempts to deceive George.

Throughout the novel, George showed qualities of leadership, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, sense of fraternity, sense of respect for others, and sense of human dignity. These character traits of empathy to keep himself and Lennie alive. Lennie had a mental disability that everyone overlooked, he was very tall and broad, and did not realize his actions or strength. George felt guilt over Curley’s wife death and was unsure if the law would find

Lennie is mentally disabled and so always ‘does bad things’, because of this, he constantly depends on George to protect him and get him out of trouble. For example, in Weed, Lennie constantly ‘wants to touch

Through the narrative convention of foreshadowing, Steinbeck uses the execution of Candy’s dog to predict what will occur to Candy himself, once his ability to work diminishes completely. Candy’s dog is a metaphor of himself. The dog represents the brutality of life on the land and the inevitability of becoming useless.

2. George is a small and thin man with sharp features (Steinbeck 2). He has a quick temper and a wit to match. His temper is shown early in the book on page 4 when he gets mad at Lennie for always forgetting what he’s told him. George plays the role as the caregiver in his relationship with Lennie. A conflict

George the smaller leader and Lennie the mentally challenged friend. They travel around looking for jobs. They get a job at a farm when Lennie accidentally kills curley's wife. Which makes George do the unthinkable and kill his friend. This all takes place in California during the dust bowl. George is the protagonist in the book of mice and men by John Steinbeck. Lennie is the antagonist in the novella.

The novel written by John Steinbeck called Of Mice and Men is about how two men who are migrant farm workers. Their names are George and Lennie. They are good friends and George takes care of Lennie because he is very incapable of taking her of himself. This novel has many different characters. They are all different in their own ways and all have their own archetype for the kind of characters that they are. The character George has The Hero archetype. One characteristic of this archetype is that they are trying to achieve a certain goal throughout the novel and must overcome obstacles throughout the way. This fits Georges character very well because throughout the entire book he is trying to achieve the goal of owning his own farm and he calls it the dream. The novel Of Mice and Men that was written by John Steinbeck, George is the protagonist and has the archetype of the hero.

In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the most complex character that occurs in the book is George Milton. George Milton is the protagonist in the story and is quick tempered when dealing with Lennie. He is like a father figure for massive but slow-processed Lennie. George is the most complex character in Of Mice and Men due to the conflicts of Lennie getting into a fight with Curley, George having to deal with Lennie killing Curley's wife, and George always having to look out for Lennie even though he would be better off alone.

“I’d make a will an’ leave my share to you guys incase I kick off.”

He describes how the working men at the ranch felt in the novel. To the working men in the ranch, the relationship between Lennie and George seemed very unusual to them clearly showing the aloneness at the ranch between the men. He also uses Candy to illustrate loneliness by showing how lonely Candy gets after his dog was shot. Another character was Curly’s wife. She was shown lonely simply by saying she was the only woman on the ranch resulting her to make countless efforts of trying to make freinds with the working men.

Throughout Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck makes his characters complex and makes their actions hard to understand. For example, throughout some points of the book George is grouchy, at other points of the book George is courteous.

He would yell at Lennie and tell him if he didnt have him he could go and do as he pleased. When in reality George did not want these things. He was greatful to have a friend in Lennie, so he would not have to be alone. With Lennie's simple mind, he could not comprehend what George was talking about most of the time. He believed that George got upset over simple things such as ketchup. He too was very thankful to have George to go along with. Although he did not understand the complexity of things sometimes, he knew that he had a true friend who he trusted wouldnt leave him.

Through the character of Lennie, John Steinbeck shows that soft things fulfill his lack of comfort. Despite his companion George, Lennie feels alone in the world. He then resorts to the feeling of soft things to make him feel comfortable in the world. Candy uses the companionship of his dog to give himself comfort. At the passing of his old and stinky dog, Candy feels so lonely that he decides to join in on George and Lennie’s plan. The passing of Candy’s dog is the same as the killing of Candy’s happiness. Curley’s wife, although never named, demonstrates the measures one will go when she does not have a trusting and loyal companion by her side. Curley’s wife expresses through her actions that she is not satisfied in her marriage. She is even willing to sacrifice her marriage to feel comfort with another male on the ranch. The benefits and importance of having someone by his or her side throughout life should be recognized and

Throughout the story George sacrifices quite a lot of his time, and put in tremendous amounts of effort for Lennie. Who in return does not even remember the advice he is told.