Of Mice And Men 'And The Boy In The Striped Pajamas'

Comparison Essay

Friendship is a relationship the everyone has whether its with the same sex or opposite sex. The importance of friendship means you have to trust one another, have somewhat of the same interests, and you can get along. Friends stick together no matter what and have a bond with each other that no one else has. The novel, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and the novel “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” by John Boyne share the similar message of the importance of friendship, but each story has their own versions of friendship and their own themes and characterization. One message both authors explain in their stories is that friendships can happen under unusual circumstances. Like Lennie and George in the book “Of Mice and

In the story of “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie ends up killing Curley’s wife by strangling her to death because she wouldn’t be quiet. Lennie then runs away, all the men on the ranch are on a man hunt for Lennie and George is the only one who knows where he is going. George steals Carlson’s gun and goes and finds Lennie. George calms Lennie down by telling him about their ranch that they will own one day and when Lennie gets excited about the rabbits like he always does George shoots Lennie in the back of the head to make sure no one else but him would kill Lennie: “But George sat stiffly on the bank and looked at his right hand that had thrown the gun away. The group burst into the clearing, and Curley was ahead. He saw Lennie lying on the sand. “Got him, by God.” He went over and looked down at Lennie, and then he looked back at George. “Right in the back of the head,” he said softly.” (Steinbeck 52). The quote shows the traumatic ending to Lennie and George’s friendship. In the story “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” also had a tragic ending which started when Schmule and Bruno came up with a plan so they could play together and also find Schmule’s Papa and not be separated by a fence. Schmule stole a pair of the “striped pajamas” so Bruno would fit in with the others and so Bruno put on the pajamas and snuck underneath the fence. Bruno wasn’t allowed to wear his boots or else he would be