Napoleon Dynamite Friendship

One of the most memorable friendships of the early 2000s is portrayed in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. When the two main characters Napoleon and Pedro meet, they become fast friends. Napoleon and Pedro stay loyal to each other throughout the entire movie, despite what others might think. This is similar to how John Steinbeck portrays friendship in his novella Of Mice and Men. The friendship between the main characters of the novella, George and Lennie, is unexpected. They choose to stand by each other regardless of society’s expectations. Through this, Steinbeck communicates the theme that a loyal friend can be a haven in a heartless world.

One of the ways Steinbeck shows the importance of friendship is through interactions between characters. In the

exposition of the novella, George and Lennie are on their way to their new jobs.

George chooses to stick with Lennie, despite his mental disabilities. They are loyal to each other, even though they are different: “Even in the open one stayed behind the other” (2). Their desire to spend time together in fellowship indicates the theme of true friendship. Later on in the novella, George and Lennie are introduced to Slim, the jerkline skinner on the ranch. Because his job requires him to move around, Slim, like most migrant farmers, is lonely. He observes George and Lennie’s unusual friendship and questions it saying, “You guys travel around together?” (34). George and Lennie’s loyalty to each other protects them from the loneliness of their work, revealing one important benefit of true friendship. Near the end of the novella, Lennie is in the barn with

Curley’s wife, who is married to the boss's son. He is trying to avoid her, as George has warned him to stay away from her. She is lonely because of Curley’s negligence. While in the barn with Lennie, “she moved closer to him and spoke soothingly” (87). Curley’s wife is so hungry for the relationship that she is missing from her husband that she is willing to do anything to get it. Steinbeck reinforces the theme of friendship by showing the devastation that occurs when you do not have it. These interactions between George, Lennie, Slim, and Curley’s wife reveal the theme of friendship’s importance and the protection it provides from the hurts of the world.
Steinbeck uses the way the characters relate to each other to show that although true friends are a rarity, they are well worth the pursuit, because of the benefits they bring. George and Lennie’s enduring fellowship and Slim’s observation of them highlight the value of true loyalty; Curley’s wife’s desire for companionship puts an emphasis on the lack of friendship and the devastation it may bring. Cicero once wrote, “Loyalty is what we seek in friendship”; George and Lennie found both.