George Is A Good Friend Essay

George is a good friend

The definition for friend is, a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations. That definition relates to to really good friends George and Lennie. These characters from the book Of Mice and Men are always together, George is kinda like Lennie's caregiver they are really close friends they have been together for a long time know. He cared for Lennie ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara had died. George and Lennie move a lot because they have to get different jobs quite often. George has to be with Lennie because Lennie has a disability that causes him to forget a lot of things. His never really completely been able to tune in to things that are going on around him. George and Lennie had just left the town of Weed. They had to leave in order to keep Lennie out of jail. When they were in Weed Lennie had seen a girl with a really bright soft looking

dress, Lennie enjoys to pet soft things he even keep dead rates in his pocket to pet. So when Lennie sow that dress he wanted to tough it so he did. This sacred the woman wearing the dress and then she had told everyone that it was an attempt at rap. So George took Lennie and left. All this leads to George being a good friend because, he is faithful, caring, patient, and protective toward Lennie.

George has always been faithful to Lennie even when he is being a little too much for him. George never abandoned Lennie, even when he is trouble they always have a way of sticking together. Like when they were in Weed and Lennie got in trouble they left together. George could've let Lennie get beat up or up in jail or even worse; however he didn't. That's not the only way that george has ever been faithful, George also faithful when he made sure that Lennie knew he was not mad before he had killed Lennie, showing him that he would not be able to live with himself if he was. When it came down to a very defining moment in which he had not let Lennie down when he was getting beat up by curly ,”George was on his feet yelling,’ get him, Lennie. Don't let him do it.’........’mack ‘m stop, George.’” (Steinbeck 63) when reading that quote, straight out of the book Of Mice and Man, you see that George told Lennie to fight and if he didn’t then Lennie would of got hurt really bad. In the end George is not just faithful to Lennie he was also caring toward him.

George was never really meant to take care of Lennie, because he was not truly related to him.

But George could not just leave him so he took Lennie in when no one else would. George is very caring toward Lennie in many ways, not just by taking him in but by other things. For example before George killed Lennie he made sure that Lennie was dreaming of a peaceful and exciting life with George. When it came down to him killing Lennie he actually wanted Lennie to be happy. In the article The Keys to Caregiving; Out of guilt, loyalty and love, the helpers often neglect to help themselves it says that,”Caregivers are often overprotective of their loved ones and refuse to allow other people to provide relief.” ( Scelfo )Which relates to the role of george taking care of Lennie. George has a way of being a caregiver, he is not labeled that, the things that george does for Lennie definitely fits the part into the role of a caregiver. George was always there for Lennie and faithful to lennie but he was also very patient with

him

George was very patient with Lennie. He never got mad at him, even though there were many places where hecould have. For instance, when Lennie touched the girl’s dress in Weed, and she screamed, they just hid until everyone left. When Lennie wanted ketchup on his beans, George explained that they didn’t have any, but if they did, he would have been able to have some. When Lennie brought the pup inside the house, George just made him bring it out again, so it wouldn’t die. When he killed the pup and Curly’s wife, George said, ”No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.”(Steinbeck, page 106).

George was Lennie’s protector through the entire book. Even when he killed him he was protecting him from what the other men were going to do to him. If Lennie hadn’t died, then he would have killed more things. The literal definition of protection, is; “The action of protecting someone or something, or the state of being protected”. Some people may think that George was not protecting Lennie when he killed him, because killing someone doesn’t always seem like a good way to protect someone, but if he hadn’t killed him, it would have been worse. The other men would have tortured him for what he did. Lennie’s mind would have also become weaker, and his hallucinations would probably get worse.

In conclusion, George was a true friend to Lennie throughout the whole book. He was always there for him. This is shown when he runs away from Weed with him, instead of without him. He never needed to take care of Lennie, but he did anyway. He was never actually mad at Lennie, as shown when George told him that he wasn’t mad, right before he killed him. He was also always protecting Lennie to the bitter end. This is shown when he kills him.