In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s is revealed through a simple story of ranch workers who hope to improve their lives. Migrant workers, George and Lennie, have a friendship that is based on trust and protection. The other workers lack the companionship and bond that these two men have. In the novel, the absence and presence of friendship is the motivation for the characters’ actions. The relationship between the characters George and Lennie is a strong example of friendship in this novel. George and Lennie had been friends since they were kids; Lennie has always relied on George to get him out of tough situations since he is mentally challenged. When George and Lennie had arrived at the ranch the boss was wondering why Lennie couldn’t speak for himself; and that is when George had to step in, “George said, ‘He’s my … cousin. I told his old lady I’d take care of him. He got kicked in the head by a horse when he was a kid. He’s awright. Just ain’t bright. But he can do anything you tell him’” (pg. 22). Since Lennie is mentally challenged and can’t think fast enough, he relies on George to tell him what to do. Curley had turned on Lennie by punching him; and protect himself, Lennie had grabbed Curley’s hand and crushed with his own hand. Lennie felt bad for what he did so George …show more content…
The presence of friendship affecting Candy when he has a hard time letting go of his long time friend and when Lennie relies on his friendship with George to get him through tough situations. The absence of friendship affects characters like Crooks; since he is black and feels like he is not wanted he always wants to be alone and have his space. The presence and absence of friendship can affect different characters in different ways; especially in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and
. George finds them places to live and work because he wants to be a good friend and companion to Lennie. He and Lennie are good friends because they balance each other out. They show each other different perspectives and they help each other see things differently. George shows Lennie love in weird ways.
Of Mice and Men might be an old story but it stays true to its theme of friendship and conflict. In Of Mice and Men it's really about two men, Lennie and George who are faced with lots of obstacles because of their outside appearances but internally they are very opposite to their body shapes from first glance. Lennies this big tough guy but on the inside he struggles from day to day life because of his mental disability. George is vice versa just because he is small doesn't account to anything George tends to want things his way and has more of a restricted personality but Lennie and George have something in common they both have each others backs like a true friendship. Steinbeck's “ Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly.
Friendship Friendship is a hard thing to find, but what can be even more difficult is finding someone who you can share a genuine friendship unconditionally. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is very heartbreaking and grievous novel that has many devastating aspects. Throughout the story, Lennie and George portray the many accurate qualities of true friendship. I have had one friendship in my life that I can more than confidently say was authentic. This friend shows her loyalty, honesty, and selflessness constantly, similar to George and Lennie.
Examine how far George and Lennie are loyal to each other throughout 'Of mice and men' In the novella 'Of Mice and Men', by the well-known author, John Steinbeck, the reader is introduced to a varied range of different characters on the ranch; within this realm loyalty between George and Lennie plays a significant role in the lonely itinerant lifestyle. The characters in this short novel act in a world of their own, having no connections to any other type of society; through this Steinbeck can strongly depict the theme of loyalty and friendship in dire situations during this period of time. During the 1930's, at the ranch, a predominant role of intelligent white-males is seen to retain power over lesser groups of people, of which Lennie is portrayed to be this part as he is mentally disabled. Despite this George and Lennie strike up a friendship of loyalty: showing firm and constant support. ' Guys like us got no fambly...they ain't got nobody in the worl' that gives a hoot in hell about 'em' sums up the reason why their loyalty and companionship is so vital and special to each other.
In ‘Of Mice and Men’, written by John Steinbeck, friendship is portrayed as one of the main themes in this novella and a very important part of people’s lives. Steinbeck also portrays friendship by highlighting the importance of friendship and showing how its presence and absence can trigger many positive and negative emotions. Its presence creates hope, feeling of companionship and a sense of responsibility. In spite of friendship’s presence creating positive feelings, its absence does the complete opposite. It generates a feeling of loneliness and isolation.
People Affected by Loneliness Loneliness can make anyone affected by it very depressing and sad to see. It is seen in Of Mice and Men in many characters that are prominent in the story. The main ones are Crooks (the black stable hand), Candy (the old worker with his old dog), and Curley’s wife (who is ignored so that they do not get into trouble). Each of these characters have had lasting events that led them here.
All of this examples indicate the friendship of Lennie and George is
Therese Pivarunas November 1, 2017 Literature 2 Honors Period 4 Banned Book Essay A deep friendship between two people has always been valued in society. The novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, should not be banned from libraries and schools, rather, it should be taught to students and remain accessible to the public. This book takes place in the middle of the Great Depression, and follows the journey of two workers looking for jobs in California. Lennie and George, the two workers, support each other through their companionship and hope to make enough money to start a new life. This story contains relatable characters who try to achieve their goals in life, a compelling story of hardship, and features a strong bond between two
Although George sometimes abuses Lennie’s blind loyalty, they think of each other as family and establish that they will always be there for each other. For example, George and Lennie share a dream in which they own a farm and live off of the land and look out for each other as a family. Faced with many hardships, George and Lennie maintain a strong bond. This example of unbreakable friendship and loyalty shows that no matter how different two people are, they are able to create inseparable relations and become true friend even when faced with
The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a gripping tale of two men and their lives during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are two migrant workers who travel together finding work. They take on a new job “bucking barley” at a ranch in central California for the ranch owner and his son. While working at the ranch they encounter Curley the ranch owner’s son and his wife, a flirtatious woman. The story reaches a climax when Lennie unintentionally kills Curley’s wife and runs back to the Salinas River just as George instructed.
In John Steinbeck´s Of Mice and Men, the ideas of companionship and friendship are addressed greatly. George and Lennie are companions who have traveled alongside each other for a long time. They have to keep moving because Lennie causes trouble, and essentially strains their relationship. Although they have issues, they have a deep connection which benefits each of them. Steinbeck´s Of Mice and Men uses motifs and characterization to show that companionship is beneficial to individuals.
John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, is a compelling story that has captured and embodied the struggle and loneliness felt by many during the Great Depression. While desire for the American Dream is prominent in the novel, Steinbeck is able to demonstrate the wants from different social classes through the construction of characters such as George Milton and Curley’s wife. With these characters, Steinbeck successfully displays the difference in ideas, values and attitudes of certain social classes in the 1930’s and the illustrates the rarity of achieving the American Dream. Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, when America was suffering greatly by the disastrous crash of the stock market. From this point in time, separation of the different classes became
A true friendship is something that everyone wants to have but not everyone can have it. in the novella Of Mice and Men the author shows the true meaning of friendship and these 2 best friends Lennie and George shows that they have Friendship and they love each other,care for each other and always have their backs i give some really great evidence and try to show you the relationship these guys had. Through the book George one of the two main characters he shows how he cares and takes care of his good friend the other important character Lennie,who was a mental disability but he still loves him but he does show some tough love. In the book George has been shown numerous times that he takes care of Lennie but the first quote It 's because Lennie was in trouble he was about to die,but his friend does something really beautiful “Couldn 't we just lock him up the poor bastards nuts{steinbeck 87}”In this quote he 's trying to convince the guys who were about to kill him by saying he didn 't know what he was doing,This quote means that he really cares for his friend and he 's trying to save him.
Throughout the course of history the Great Depression affected the United States in their economy , it lasted 10 years it was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. Lennie and George had numerous of risks in the ranches, they didn't have no one who would help them if they were sick or anything else. The author show us the good relationship of Lennie and George how they care of each other. This shows that George is a good friend but maybe this is not his decision to take care of him he feels sorry for him, I also seen in this text that Lennie receives benefits of George friendship because he is being responsible for him he takes care of him, even though he is a trouble maker George is there for Lennie.
However he first tells Lennie about their dream, about tending rabbits, living off the land from the crops, and shoots him. Friendship and Loneliness is shown here where George is Lennie’s best friend, and everyone else stays away leaving Lennie alone. Other times in the novel the reader witnesses many other characters face this same factor of isolation. Some examples are,