Companion Desperation: Examining Relationship In 'Of Mice And Men'

Dondada Ouy

Ms. Brooke

English 11

14 March 2023

Effects of Companion Desperation: Examining Relationships in Of Mice and Men Humans are social animals by nature. We yearn for companionship and to be regarded as a member of the larger population. Our fear of being outcasted can lead us to make decisions that may seem drastic or out of the ordinary of what we might want to, or know we should do. The book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is an excellent example of this because of the many situations the characters are placed in where they make decisions thinking about how the outcome might affect relationships. Some prime examples of this are Curly’s wife, George, and the life of a migrant worker in general, but all having a different cause

As our main protagonists are introduced to their living quarters, they ask why the old worker left, where we are given the quote, “then all of a sudden some day we'll go get our pay an' scram outa here" (Steinback 62). This gives us some context on the lifestyle of migrant workers, they travel far to work and get paid, then leave to another place for work, never being able to settle down and build a proper life with relationships. This has led the workers in the story to develop a hive-like mindset, and lose their individuality. Crooks even admits he’s lonely and shows his envy to Lennie when trying to explain to him how lucky he is to have George by saying, “A guy

Lennie constantly makes trouble for George and brings him distress. After one specific episode where George has to constantly reexplain to Lennie what they are doing, George says the line, “God, you’re a lot of trouble, I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl” (Steinback 9). He admits that Lennie is a burden to him, only being kept around because of pity or need of companionship. This leaves George chained down to someone who does nothing but sabotages his future. Lennie also does nothing to demonstrate George can depend on him, shown by the line given to us immediately after George’s line, “For a moment Lennie lay quiet, and then he said hopefully, ‘We gonna work on a ranch, George’” (Steinback 9). Constantly having someone rely on you while not receiving any stability back is immensely draining. This has led George to take on a more serious, and aggressive nature, not being able to let himself be carefree and loose. His desire for Lennie has also led him to feel as if he needed to kill Lennie himself, gaining the burden of murdering a close