Sacrifice In Of Mice And Men

What comes to mind when the word loyalty is mentioned? A dog, a pet, friends or family is what most people think of when the word is mentioned. However, many would not associate the word loyalty with loneliness. When John Steinbeck thought of loyalty he wrote of deep friendships and a dog and its owner’s love. Loyalty can be associated with loneliness because by the end of a friendship or family member, someone is always gone before the other, due to old age or a medical issue that has come up. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck portrays the meaning of loyalty and loneliness by creating the feeling of love and loss between two friends, Lennie and George and an elderly man and his loyal senior dog. Loneliness and loyalty are shown through the relationships in

George and Lennie consider each other family, George is like a brother to Lennie, they have a companionship that everyone wishes they had. George and Lennie travel and work together. Although George promised Lennie’s aunt Clara that he would take care of him and feels an extent of burden; Lennie’s friendship helps George stay focused on their American Dream and keeps him sane. In one instance, George says, “I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail.

Lennie is in many ways helpless and does not know how to care for himself. George helps him by giving him short commands and telling him to repeat things to himself to remember things. George has no responsibility to take care of Lennie, yet George is willing to do anything for Lennie. ‘“When his Aunt Clara died, Lennie just come along with me out workin’. Got kinda used to each other after a little while.”’

Selfishness vs. Selflessness The words selfish and selfless are two completely different words with two completely different meanings, yet they get confused quite often. In “Of Mice and Men,” some readers may envision the character George as selfish or harsh towards Lennie, however, Steinbeck portrays George as selfless. George and Lennie find themselves in penurious situations very often. This is burdensome for George considering Lennie’s mental disability, and it should be expected that George will become infuriated with him at times.

George and Lennie have been friends since they were young, and George has travelled with Lennie from ranch to ranch, looking after him for a

George and Lennie travel everywhere together, and depend on each other in times of need. In fact, George likes traveling with Lennie to an extent, “I want you to stay with me, Lennie”(Steinbeck 13). Unlike other farmhands, George and Lennie share a special bond, “‘because I got you

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.

He life has so far been trying to keep a steady job while caring and looking after Lennie, who easily gets them kicked out of almost every place they go to. “An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed, neither,”(Steinbeck 8). George honestly knew he would be better off without Lennie. But because of Lennie’s aunt, he would keep him safe even if a town was after him. Multiple times he has saved Lennie from others who misinterpreted him for a fool or a creep, when really they acted on impulse than understand the situation at

"An' why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why. " This quote shows friendship the most. Friendship is one of the most important things throughout the book in the book George and Lennie are very good friends and they need each other to survive in such a bad area and jump from job to job "' Ain't many guys travel around together,' he mused. '

Lennie cares about George. Lennie always wanted to be with George because, he needed a companion, but he may have trusted him a bit too much. “I turn to Lennie and say jump in and he jumps, couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned. "(Steinbeck, 40)

George protects Lennie more than once in the story. He knows Lennie can't live on his own and he cares about him. On their way to the new ranch, Lennie forgets where they're going and asks George. George reminds Lennie about the time they went to Murray and Ready's, where they were given work cards and bus tickets. Lennie thought he had lost his passes, but George explains to him that he would never let him carry it knowing his past experiences of forgetting things.

Just because he was George’s best friend did not give him any reason to shoot him. Lennie is a person that is childish, a little slow, and irresponsible adult. George is his caretaker that is responsible, caring, and a wiry person.

George and Lennie, prominent characters in the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, are migrant workers—men who move from place to place to do seasonal work— who end up in California and are faced with numerous problems. Set in the era of the great depression, the story of Lennie and George, two very different men who have formed a family-like union, takes place on a farm where Lennie struggles to stay out of trouble. Having committed an unintentional, harmful act, Lennie is faces severe consequences; and George must decide to make a necessary decision which changes the mood of the entire novel. By the comparison and contrast of George and Lennie, unique characters who are very different from each other, the reader can better acquaint himself

George sacrifices the chance to have a better and more fulfilled life to stay with Lennie. First, when George was introducing himself and Lennie to their new boss, he said, “I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.” This shows that George was portraying that he cares about Lennie enough to be picked up on by others. He was willing to lie about being Lennie’s cousin to get him a job. Also, when George and Lennie were talking to each other at their camp spot George said, “I could get along so easy and nice If I didn’t have you on my tail.”

”(72) he can’t believe that something like that would happen to George that will leave him alone. After George had scolded him had replies ”If you don 't want me I can go off an’ find a cave. I can go away any time”(13). He requests that it would better off for George and everyone else if he is alone, even though he wants someone to talk to and be with. None of the other people really like Lennie on the farm and especially when the climax of the story happened he was dreadfully hated.