The Role Of Friendship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Friendship is an item that is seen as a basic component of human interaction, despite it not being ‘basic’ at all. Of Mice and Men, a novella by American author John Steinbeck is a tragic story that shows both the beauty and the sorrow that can accompany a friendship. When it comes to this topic, I become a little touchy. Almost every friendship I have ever had has gone awry, unlike that of George and Lennie. It is pretty simple, really; unlike George and Lennie’s friendship, most of mine have almost completely lacked trust, compassion, and adaptability. Trust is a key element to any relationship, be it a business deal or a friendship, trust has to be there. Lennie and George show trust from the very start. In chapter one, George is telling the story of the plot of land. Lennie hops in to the

I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you…” (Steinbeck 14). Lennie saying this shows that, from the start, he trusts George to care for him, and that George has apparently said that he trusts Lennie, at least to some degree. It is nice to see this in a friendship, as almost all of mine have lacked this. I have always seemed to fall to the fault of trusting others with myself. I have trusted people with everything from pencils to my love. And this is not just a problem within my friendships, it is also within family. For example, when I was a kid, I gathered every penny I could scrape up, hoping to save up from a young age. I had a giant glass bottle in my room that my dad had bought filled with coins. I had everything from the most miniscule pennies to the a tarnished silver dollar from the 1940’s, which still sits on my desk. I gave my money to my father, asking him to put it in rolls and hold onto it for me so I would not spend it on impulse. He did so, and held onto it for a couple years. When I was eleven, however, he came home with a new gaming computer, speakers, headphones with