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Friendship is best conceptualized as
A essay about definition of friendship
Friendship is best conceptualized as
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One of the main themes of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is that friendship and companionship are a key component of our human identity. In order to be able to live and happy life humans need the companionship of others. We rely on others in times of need and share many experiences with them. Without proper companionship people may become bitter, sad and secluded. In other cases they choose to act out, in order to gain attention from other around them. This theme is demonstrated in the novella using the characters of George, Lennie, Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks. These characters show how our identity is built from friendships and how the emotions of sadness, acting out, and happiness tie into friendship and companionship, or lack thereof. …show more content…
George and Lennie are one of the best examples of a true friendship in Of Mice and Men. George takes care of Lennie and keeps him out of trouble. It is fair to say that without George, Lennie may not even be alive. In these times only the fittest can survive on their own. They must be able to provide themselves with the necessary means to survive. An example of what their relationship is like comes on page 25 when Lennie is approached by Curley in the bunkhouse. Curley starts to pick on Lennie and he is described as “looking helplessly to George for instruction” (25). This can be compared to the way that a child looks up to their father. Lennie needs George’s approval and help in order to do many things properly. Their relationship is a loving and caring one. It builds the identity of both the men involved. George would not know what to do without having Lennie to take care of and Lennie needs him to survive. Candy and his dog are an example of what happens when a relationship is broken off. They were very close until his dog was unfairly taken away from him. After that he became sad and secluded himself from the rest of the group. He said shortly before his dog was killed that “[he] couldn’t do that. [He] had ‘im too long.” (45) Their friendship was built over a very long time and Candy relied on the for companionship. Even though part of Candy’s identity was taken away from him, he was able to find happiness in other ways. He eventually befriended Lennie and George. This gave him a new sense of hope. Ther introduced Candy to their plans for the ranch house and he says he would “send $100 to bind her” (61). This shows his new commitment and dedication to their friendship. Curley’s wife and Crooks show what often happens when a human is deprived of proper companionship.
When a person’s need for love and compassion are not met, they may choose to either act out to gain attention or to seclude themselves from any other relationships. Curley’s wife chooses to act out and to be unfaithful to her husband due to the fact that he does not give her any attention. She flirts with the other men on the farm to get their attention. Crooks, who is segregated from the rest of the group because he is African-American, is very bitter towards Lennie and the other guys on the farm. When Lennie tries to come into his room to talk to him, Crooks shouts “You got no right to come in my room” (68). This shows how the neglected feeling that he has made him act angrily towards the ones who neglected him. It caused him to be protective and rude to one of the most kind hearted characters in this novella. Curley’s wife and Crooks represent how people act when they do not have the proper friendship and companionship that every human desires.
The theme of how important friendship and companionship is very prevalent in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This theme starts in chapter one with George and Lennie’s father-son like relationship and continues throughout the novella with the characters of Candy, Curley’s wife, and Crooks. Aforementioned, friendship and companionship are a key part of human nature that we all feel the effects of every day and without it we do not have an identity has a human
being.
Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is a book that can be analyzed and broken down into a vast majority of themes. One of the predominant themes found in this book is loneliness. Many characters in this book are affected by loneliness and they all demonstrate it in one way or another throughout the book. Examples of these characters are Curley’s Wife, Crooks, and Candy.
Imagine being discriminated against because of your ethnicity; or being the only woman on a ranch, stuck in a loveless marriage, when all you really want is someone to talk to. What about having to kill that friend, and bury all chances of breaking free from the life of the average migrant worker? How would you feel? These scenarios in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men illustrate the need and desire for companionship in life. There's Crooks, the negro stable buck; Curley's wife, whose marriage to Curley hasn't exactly been lively; and George and Lennie, whose friendship is strong enough to get them to a better life and out of the negetive cycle that the average migrant worker became trapped in during the Great Depression.
John Steinbeck explores human experience in the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ in friendship, loneliness and marginalisation. He does this through the characters as explained thought the paragraphs below.
In the touching and gripping tale of John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, he explains many themes throughout the books. One of the major themes is loneliness, which is shown throughout many different characters, for example, Curley’s wife, the stable buck (Crooks), and Lennie.
In terms of emotional stability, there is only one thing in life that is really needed and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-esteem and deprivation. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife all exhibit some form of loneliness. They are driven towards the curiosity of George and Lennie's friendship because they do not have that support in their life. Through his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck demonstrates that often times, a victim of isolation will have a never-ending search to fulfill a friendship.
“There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear (Frank Tyger).” It’s always very important to have someone to confide in and vent to otherwise life just feels empty. You feel lonely without anyone. That’s what the characters in Of Mice and Men experienced. Loneliness. This book demonstrates what they viewed a friendship as. Most of them don’t even know what it’s like to have a friend. In this book Lennie, George, and Carlson deserve the most sympathy because each one of them has gone through some tough phases from being treated like crap to not having anyone who understands them and who sympathizes why the things they've been through reflect who they are as a person.
Throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men (by John Steinbeck), loneliness is the major underlying theme of the novel. You could almost say that the book has hormonal' up's and down's. Most of the characters are very lonely because they have no family. However, George and Lennie are the contradiction to this. George and Lennie's bond towards each other are so- strong that you can almost see it as you are reading the book. Candy the old crippled man wants to be part of George and Lennie's dream to own a farm and "live off the fatta the land". Curley and his dog are like the metaphor in the book for George and Lennie. Candy has to take care of his dog and George of Lennie. The other two characters in the novel that are apart of the overall theme of loneliness are crooks the crippled stable buck and Curley's wife the flirtatious city girl. Crook's fits in to the loneliness theme because he is black. During this time in history, there was very little racial empathy. So being black means that he is isolated from everyone else at the ranch. Speaking of isolation, curley's wife feels very isolated because her husband, Curley, doesn't trust her at all, however, because Curley is so strict and concerned about her flirting with other guys it almost fuels her desire to cause trouble.
"Were born alone we live alone die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that were not alone” Orson Welles. In this novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck focuses on the loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930’s. One of the most important things in the life is to have a friend, without friends people will suffer from loneliness like in this novel, not everyone in the novel has the same connection and special friendship like George and Lennie’s. Of Mice and Men is the story about lonely men who travel from ranch to ranch not really communicating with other ranch hands. Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife all were lonely and dealt with their loneliness in different ways.
Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck illustrates many morals in the novel. This novel supports many themes. The characters make up most of messages in the novel. Some examples are the predatory nature of human existence, the bonds between men, the impossibility of the american dream, and the destructive imbalance of social power structures in american society. The themes of predatory nature and the bonds between two men are important to the novella ”Of Mice and Men” because of when Curley got into a fight with Lennie, when George would be mean to Lennie, and when Crooks was also being mean to Lennie.
Yet what most fail to see is that Of Mice and Men portrays both aspects of human life through the mutual friendship of two uncommon men, George and Lennie, the dream they both share, and the sudden calamity that befalls them. Relationships are an important part of life. Humans need relationships because we are dependent on each other to survive. Babies need their mothers to feed and nurse them, and friends need each other to support, comfort, sympathize, and understand them. The friendship between George and Lennie outlined the core of Of Mice and Men, and although it’s sometimes idealized and exaggerated throughout the novel, there is no question of its sincerity.
Friendship is a key theme in the novel written by John Steinbeck, titled Of Mice and Men. The friendships that some of the men have with each other contributes to how well they cope with everyday obstacles. The men with greater friendships seem to be happier and have certain goals for their future. The presence or absence of friendship in Of Mice and Men affects characters in their actions, relationships, and their happiness.
Loneliness and Companionship are one of the many themes that are conveyed in the novel Of Mice and Men, By John Steinbeck. Many of the characters admit to suffering from loneliness within the texts. George sets the tone for these confessions early in the novel when he reminds Lennie that the life of living on a ranch is among the loneliest of lives. However Lennie, who is mentally disabled holds the idea that living on a farm very high. "Tending the rabbits" is what Lennie calls it. Often when Lennie is seaking encouragement he askes George to tell him how its going to be. Men like George who migrate from farm to farm rarely have anyone to look to for companionship and protection. George obviously cares a lot for lennie, but is too stubborn to admit to it. The feeling of being shipped from place to place leaves George feeling alone and abandoned.
...et across to us. This novel emphasizes how perilously people long for a companion. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, states the true meaning of friendship, the reality of the American Dream seen in the vision of the characters, and the awfulness of human nature. There are many differences between Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife, however all of these characters are linked together by their lust for a better life; a life where they can fulfill their dreams. These characters' hardship comes from the amount of hatred they have for solitude and idealized friendships. It's their hatred of loneliness that pushes them to confess their problems to other people about their difficulties. Even though Crooks, Candy, and Curley's wife may not find pure satisfaction, those occasions of finally conversing about their feelings, comfort their misery and give them a feeling of unity.
Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, one of the most prominent and well-explored themes is friendship. In the book, we observe many relationships between characters such as George, Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife. George and Lennie, the main characters, give a prime example of the upsides and downfalls of a close, dependant relationship. But Lennie is not to George as George is to Lennie. Their relationship could be better described as teamwork than friendship; both bring a different skill to the table. Steinbeck portrays different friendships between different people. Human interaction under harsh conditions can often have debatable outcomes.
The famed nurses study from Harvard found “Not having a close friend is as detrimental to your health as smoking.” Lennie and George’s friendship is necessary to keep the better for each other. Throughout the story, Lennie and George need each other and look out for one another no matter what. Lennie and George’s friendship and journey throughout the story symbolizes the struggles to achieve the American dream. Steinbeck, in the story Of Mice and Men, combines characterization and symbolism to prove friends do whats best for eachother.