Loyalty In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

When asked what someone wants in a friend, a typical response would be loyalty. Best friends can not have a long term relationship without loyalty to one another, so people look for loyalty in a friend. However, loyalty comes with a cost. There are consequences of being loyal to others, like selflessness, devotion to the friendship, and more. Throughout Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, loyalty to others causes significant consequences because it can either result in harming oneself from selflessness, or abrupt betrayal.

Without a doubt, Lennie’s unquestionable loyalty to George has its repercussions. Late in the book, Lennie is forced to flee after he kills Curley’s wife, and runs to the banks that George told him to go to if he ever got in trouble. George finds him lying there and pretends everything is alright. George says to Lennie, “‘No, Lennie. Look down there acrost the river, like you can almost see the place.’... And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). Lennie is oblivious to the

In the first chapter of the book, George expresses his anger towards Lennie about how he always gets George in trouble. George tells Lennie, “you can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out. You crazy son-of-a-bitch. You keep me in hot water all the time” (Steinbeck 11). George yells at Lennie for the trouble he constantly causes. George has to go from one job to the next and take care of Lennie all the time. He can not do what he wants because he has to make sure that Lennie is not causing any harm. George has to cover for Lennie if he does something bad, and can never do what he wants. Overall, George’s consequences for being loyal to Lennie are to get in trouble and have to look after Lennie all the