During the time of the depression, an author by the name of John Steinbeck wrote a novel called Of Mice and Men. The novel’s setting is in Southern California during the same time period. John Steinbeck shows us that friendship is a valuable thing to have in the novel Of Mice and Men. The book expresses how friendship can get you through hard times and help you keep going.
Two of the characters in the novel named George and Lennie, have a relationship that describes the perfect friendship in my opinion. They are always there for each other and always have each other’s back. George and Lennie and two very different types of people. Lennie is mental challenged, but he is a very large man, and is as strong as an ox. George is intelligent, a smaller built man, and definitely not as strong as Lennie. George promised Lennie’s aunt that he would look after Lennie when she past away.
That is not the only reason George keeps Lennie around though, you can tell when reading the novel that George really cares about Lennie. George sometimes says some harsh words to Lennie like,I could get along so easy and so nice if I didnt have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl. (7) When George says things like that though, he doesn’t say them to try and hurt Lennie’s feelings, I think he just gets frustrated at the things Lennie does and how he gets in trouble. George tries to do things for Lennie also.
While working on a ranch in Southern California, George asked Slim, who is the master skinner, if Lennie can have one of the pups his dog gave birth to. George also help Lennie get his job on the ranch by using his intelligence and telling the boss, He can do anything you tell him. Hes a good skinner, he can raise grain bags, drive a cultivator. He can do anything. Just give him a try. (22) Lenny also cares a lot about George, George is perceived as Lennies role model.
He tries to do things just like George and he does whatever George tells him. One time a bunch of people where down by the Sacramento River, and George turned to Lennie and said ,Jump In. (40) Lennie didnt know how to swim and he almost drowned, but he jumped in just because George told him to. Lennie coulda bust every bone in Georges body but Lennie never lifted a finger against George.
(40) Lennie is also very protective of George. One night all the boys on the ranch went into town except Lennie and Crooks, a black man who is the stable hand. Crooks wanted to mess with Lennie and asked him what would he do if George got hurt of killed that night. This made Lennie really mad that Crooks would even said that George would get hurt and he told Crooks,Aint nobody goin to suppose no hurt to George.
(72)Lennie thinks the world of George and he doesnt wanted anybody even thinking about hurting George. The relationship between George and Lennie in the novel Of Mice and Men, shows how a true friendship should go. They were by each other side until the very end and never deceived each other. You can definitely tell how John Steinbeck used George and Lennie to described a faithful friendship. The other men in the book were mostly about themselves, and didnt really have anyone.
George and Lennies friendship seemed to give them hope and gave them a dream of one day having their own little place together. The friendship help both Lennie and George, which I think would be a valuable thing in present-day because it seems like a lot of friendship today are just based on trying to use someone for want they got. George could of taken advantages of Lennie, but he didnt because he honestly cared for Lennie. Thats why I think George and Lennies relationship in the novel Of Mice and Men, is the perfect friendship.
