Of Mice And Men: George And Lennie's Relationship

In ‘Of Mice and Men’ George and Lennie’s relationship is pivotal throughout the novella. Steinbeck uses the relationship to present many of the novella’s themes, such as friendship. George and Lennie’s relationship is especially pertinent considering the loneliness of American life during the Great Depression as presented in ‘Of Mice and Men’.

At the beginning of the novella, Steinbeck does not present George and Lennie as equals. This is seen through the way they “walked single file down the path”. There is a suggestion here of George, the one in the front, being the master while Lennie is presented as the follower. As the novel progresses, Steinbeck develops this idea, presenting them as an animal and master relationship accentuating the

When George says this it is clear that he knows how to threaten Lennie and in doing so Steinbeck presents a parent and child dynamic in their relationship. It is as if George knows how to deal with Lennie and how he should go about to threaten him in a way that works, suggesting that they have been through this kind of experience countless times. Steinbeck also portrays Lennie as the child in the relationship. The way that Lennie looks up to George, “looked over to George to see whether he had it just right” suggests that George is a role model for Lennie. He always wants to be “just” like George even in the way he wears his hat. It would be normal for a child to copy his father like this. Therefore Lennie’s infantile behaviour makes it more believable that George is the father figure in Lennie’s

Steinbeck uses Crooks to illustrate how loneliness can corrupt and destroy a man. Crooks is not only lonely but he also lives in a society that immediately relegates non-whites to a sub-human level. Therefore, it is without a doubt that he craves a friendship like George and Lennie’s, “Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he’s goin’ to come back. S’pose you didn’t have nobody... How’d you like that?”. Crooks cruelly describes how lucky Lennie is to have George and there is a suggestion that if he had a relationship like George and Lennie’s he would cherish it and appreciate it so much more than Lennie