Theme Of Sacrifice In Of Mice And Men

Sacrifice is needed in order to have a successful friendship. Best friends will sacrifice anything and everything in order to protect each other. John Steinbeck shows a great example of sacrifice for friendship in Of Mice and Men. This is a story where two best friends work together in order to one day achieve their goals, but Lennie kills the wife of the ranch owner’s son, and George shoots Lennie in the back of the head in order to keep him safe. It was alright for George to kill Lennie because of their friendship and the sacrifices that friends need to make for each other. George was making a sacrifice by following out his responsibility to shoot Lennie instead of letting someone else shoot him. It was an immense sacrifice for George and shows how true their friendship was.

Despite George’s approach to Lennie, deep down he truly cares for his friend. Even when Lennie offered to “go off in the hills and live by” himself, George told him that he wanted Lennie to stay with him because he truly does care for Lennie ( Of mice and Men 13). John Steinbeck’s description of George as a “parent” to Lennie helps the reader at the end of the

Lennie’s dependency on George helped the reader at the end of the book because it showed that Lennie was not capable of doing things on his own and needed George to steer him in the right direction. Lennie needed George and was not safe on his own. Killing Lennie was George’s way of showing a sacrifice by doing something that would be best for Lennie but would hurt George emotionally. Lennie needed to die and it was better that George shoot him than anyone else. Sacrifice is needed in order to have a successful relationship and George went through that sacrifice to do what was right for his