Friendship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Friendship, by definition, is a bond of mutual affection or a form of love. Depending on the individuals, friendships can vary distinctively. While some are built solely on mutual hatred, others come together in fear of solidarity. In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small who is childlike and robust has an odd relationship with whom he calls his best friend, George Milton, who is smart and feebly. These two fictional characters’ travel together and share the same fantasy of owning their own piece of land alongside a farm. Lennie and George show a gesture of friendly love; however, they are not alike. A protective, caring and rough relationship is expressed by these two so called best friends.

Lennie and George express

It is something that is essential in a relationship between friends, parents and relatives. George and Lennie care about each other and look after each other as they were brothers. A person can show a sign of caring in many ways, such as when Lennie said, "I thought you was mad at me, George." "No," said George. "No, Lennie, I ain't mad. I never been mad, and I ain' now. That's a thing I want ya to know." (136). Lennie’s biggest fear is not being locked up, it is being locked out of George and being on his bad side. George tries to comfort and relieve him by saying he was not mad. George always wants Lennie to be safe, he tells Lennie "Lennie—if you jus' happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an' hide in the brush… Hide in the brush till I come for you." (20). This proves that George cares about him and wants him to know what to do if something bad ever happened to him. “I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me. If it was here, you could have some. But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it.” (16). Lennie may not be able to look out for George but he still cares about him, he does his best effort to make sure George is happy and no one is treating him poorly. However, these two best friends have had some

You would think George is all nice to Lennie all the time, well think again. George has made Lennie feel self-conscious and sad sometimes, for example when he yelled at Lennie "Blubberin' like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you!" Lennie's lip quivered and tears started in his eyes. (13). George decided to ignore the fact that his best friend is slow minded and acts childish. He didn’t even think about it, but he was rude and used Lennies mental problems against him. Another time when George was rude to Lennie, he said "I wish I could put you in a cage with about a million mice an' let you have fun."(16). Not only is what George saying sarcastic and rude but it is also cruel, saying he wants to put Lennie in a cage, who does he think he is? Lastly, the roughest part of Lennie and Georges relationship is when George killed Lennie, yes George killed his own best friend. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” (137). This was unnecessary. It is understandable that George might have done this because Lennie only kept doing bad things, like when he was accused of rape in weed, California and when he murdered Curley’s wife. Maybe Lennie could have gotten mental help or some more attention from someone who would help him.