Essay On Friendship In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

“A guy needs somebody – to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody.” This quote can be found in John Steinbeck’s book, Of Mice and Men. Through this book the text shows how important it is to “have somebody”. This shows through taking care of one another, striving for dreams, and making sacrifices that sometimes even result in taking the blame and being responsible for each other. This, is the true meaning of friendship. In Of Mice and Men George and Lennie take care of each other a great amount. In the novel the text read “… because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you” (Steinbeck 14). This quote shows that George and Lennie have always got the other persons back and they know it, too. Secondly, as George is speaking to another character about Lennie he says “We kind of look after each other” (34). Again, this shows that Lennie and George are always with each other and helping each other out. “You never had none you crazy bastard. I got ‘em both here. Think

Throughout the book you can see that they are responsible for one another and make sacrifices for one another. At one point in the story when Lennie thought that George was in danger the text reads “Suddenly Lennie’s eyes centered and drew quiet, and mad. He stood up dangerously toward crooks. ‘Who hurt George?’(72). This shows that is someone had really harmed George, he would have stuck up for him and done what he could… even if it meant he had to hurt someone himself. You can tell George would make any sacrifice for Lennie by the way he talks about him. He says “Hell of a fella, but he ain’t bright” (36). He knows that Lennie isn’t the smartest but that he is a great person and a great worker. “Well you ain’t doing no good keepin’ alive” (45). Slim says this to Candy about his dog, but is later found out to have the same meaning for Lennie. George made that sacrifice of ending his good friend’s