Theme Of Trust In Of Mice And Men

Frank Cane, an author from the time of when Of Mice and Men was written, once said, "You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don 't trust enough" (Frank Crane). The idea of this quote is seen greatly throughout the novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Trust is defined to have three different levels of strength by Randy Conley, an expert on relationships between individuals, and these can all be equally seen throughout the novella (Conley, Randy). The impact of withholding trust from all individuals is revealed by Steinbeck through his character Crooks, a black man oppressed by racism for most of his life, who decides not to trust anyone in order to protect himself. The event of being deceived after …show more content…
In all of these relationships, there are the different types of trust between characters as described by Conley. The three types of trust are deterrence-based trust, knowledge-based trust, and identity-based trust. Deterrence-based trust is of the fear of disloyalty, which is seen through Crook 's constant wariness of those surrounding him because of his past experiences with others. Lennie and Curley 's wife 's relationship is of knowledge-based trust, which is trust based on the knowledge of who an individual is and what their actions will be, but this trust is broken when Lennie kills Curley 's wife. The relationship between George and Lennie is of identity-based trust, which is trust that comes from an emotional connection between two individuals after knowing each other for a long time (Conley, Randy). Seen in all of these relationships, the three types of trust play a key role within the novella, as they control the outcomes of the character 's actions and the way they think. Throughout the novella, it can be seen that, as the Frank Cane quote infers, a balance has to be found within one 's trust of