How Does Steinbeck Use The Theme Of Friendship In Of Mice And Men

Improved Essays
Of Lennie and George...
In John Steinbeck's Novel Of Mice and Men Steinbeck develops an unbreakable and abnormal bond between two men, George Milton and Lennie Small. Throughout the book their friendship is seen as different compared to everyone else's friendships on the ranch. Steinbeck Uses the motif of friendship to help his readers to understand that human beings both crave and fear the feeling of friendship in their lives when they are put in situations with new and unknown people. Throughout the novel George and Lennie encounter situations where they are both trying to meet new people and find new friends on the ranch but never quite come up successful. This is due to the amount of fear that comes to the others with the thought of having
…show more content…
Upon arrival to the Ranch the men are shown to their bunks in the large bunkhouse and are introduced to their foreman. Slims legacy around the ranch was that he was so wise and mythological “his ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.”(34). When Slim first meets the men he shows the great importance of a companion along your side from job to job during this Great Depression. When Slim first me the men he “looked through George and beyond him “Ain’t many guys travel around together”(35) he mused. He continued by saying “ I don't know why. Maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other”(35) Steinbeck's use of the word “damn” communicates that Slim seems to be affected by this issue and he is sick of seeing the same old single guys around the ranch who want nothing to do with anyone else. Slims communicating through this that it is very valuable to have a friend that you can do everything with. His second part of what he said shows that the fear given off from other people prevents them from going after a friendship or personal connection with another person. That is why the friendship with George and Lennie is so powerful and special. After all Slim “the Prince of the Ranch”(33) has a great …show more content…
This motif is seen multiple times throughout the novel and is seen in many more instances than the three that were mentioned. We can conclude that everyone needs another counterpart to share ideas with and the intimidation of another person often keeps people from finding their perfect companion or counterpart. In the end, everyone has to go through the fear to find a friend when they need someone to talk to. One question that arises from this is, Does the invention of social media take away the initial fear of a new person since can just look them up on Instagram or Twitter and see if they have anything in common with

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    George has parent like characteristics, he is serious and caring towards Lennie. Section one of the novel establishes so much about their friendship. We see Lennie, who had been watching, “imitated George exactly. ”(P20) Steinbeck shows us, further how Lennie looks up to George as a role model.…

    • 1924 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck it proves that friends will really do anything to protect each other. Throughout the story the two main characters Lennie and George face a agglomeration of confrontations and prove that they will do whatever they can do to protect each other. One example of this is “I’ll give him the work tickets, but you ain’t gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing”(Steinbeck 6).…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As Euripides once said, “Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness” (“Friendship”). Friends are loyal and sacrifice benefits for themselves in sake of their friend. Friends are people you can count on and trust that they always have your back, friends are the ones the will tell you how it is and help you improve, and friends will make you want to be a better person. These traits are seen in both novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men, between the two pairs of main characters - Huck and Jim, and George and Lennie. Huck goes to Jackson's Island and tells Jim that they are coming for them.…

    • 1790 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    True friends should stick together no matter the circumstances. This especially applies to situations where are each other’s only family. If two friends have a relationship that is this immensely close, they should never betray one another. This means that no companion should ever cut the other’sskfjdlsk life short. Although George taking Lennie’s life away with a nonviolent method was for sure better than if it was taken cruelly and painfully by another man in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” the novel could have not resulted in a death that would haunt Lennie’s friend/killer forever.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I swear you hadda. Come on with me.” (Steinbeck, 107). He led George into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway. Slim was one of the few ranchers who understands the meaning behind friendship and the friendship George and Lennie had.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Ain’t many guys travel around together,” he mused. “I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other” (35). Throughout the course of Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck takes readers on a journey encompassing the importance of belonging versus isolation, where friendship is a foreign word and loneliness proves to be inescapable. The story follows two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, the protagonists, and their life working on a farm, all the while struggling to be accepted by the ranch workers and at what price they must pay for it.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    And Carlson, ‘Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?’” (Steinbeck 103) C: After George just killed his best friend and Slim is helping him feel better, Carlson and Curley are wondering why they are so bothered. This shows that this would be a normal thing to happen in the 1920s.…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    That came from the fact that he was the best skinner on the ranch the “ prince of the ranch” (33). With his power he leads the men, whatever he says is the law and the men will obey such as when he said that Candy’s dog needed to be shot even though Candy did not want to he still obeyed and let Carlson shoot and kill his dog (page number 45). Slim’s power and the decisions he makes with that power help him gain more respect from every single man at the ranch. Respect can be a very powerful form of power because people will listen and want to obey you from it that was the power that Slim had. There are other kinds or absences of power to learn.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Depression occurred during the the 1930’s and up until the beginning of World War 2. In the United States, there was no such thing as money, possessions, or structure. One night you were in the upper class, the next, you were in the same boat as everyone else, broke. But, in the middle of it all stood an oasis; the Salinas River Valley, which is where our author, John Steinbeck and his story, Of Mice and Men, came about. In his novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses George, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife to prove that people will go to extreme measures to escape loneliness.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, we get to see a very unique friendship between two ranchers, George and Lennie. George takes in Lennie when his aunt Clara…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He observes and listens to the other characters and isn’t quick to assume or judge. One example of this is when he tries empathizing with George once we found out that Lennie had died, “Slim came directly to George and sat down beside him, sat very close to him. ‘Never you mind,’ said Slim. ‘A guy got to sometimes’” (Steinbeck, 107).…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slim is represented throughout the book as a sort of holy figure who is inherently good. When Slim and the men come to the clearing where George has just shot Lennie, the other men don’t truly understand what has happened. Slim does. Slim realizes what has happend, but still supports George, comforting him by saying “ Never you mind… A guy got to sometimes.…

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the following example from the story, Slim is talking to George about Lennie. ‘“He’s a nice fella,” said Slim. “Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George could have been well off without Lennie, but still continues to care and support him. They have one another to talk to, be with, and look after.      ‘With us it ain’t like that. We got a future.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel of Of mice and men, John Steinbeck explores the relationship between two friends, George and Lennie, they have a strong and unusual relationship. They have a powerful dream of having a place of their own so that they have no trouble with anyone and no one has trouble with them, in order for this dream to come true they have to work on ranches so they have enough money to get the place. George and Lennie work hard but since Lennie has a mind of a child and forgetful, he keeps getting into trouble and George has to get him out of trouble by moving to the next ranch, but Lennie keeps on getting in trouble and his pelting begins innocently and then increases and becomes a criminal offence and George has to fix but one day George no…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays