True Friendship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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True friendship has a different meaning to everyone. A true friend is someone who protects you, is there for you, and helps you through the tough times. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are two grown men that travel together and because of all the traveling they are best friends. Lennie is a big guy that is mentally challenged, and George is a much smaller guy who travels with Lennie to help him out in life. After many times of running away because Lennie has gotten into trouble, George and Lennie reach their final destination at a ranch in Soledad, California to begin working. Lennie mistakenly kills a woman at the ranch and once all the men on the ranch find out they go on a manhunt for Lennie. George then decides …show more content…

He protects him from himself, others, and trouble. You do everything you can to protect someone you love and George has done that for so many years with Lennie. The only reason George and Lennie are going to a new ranch to work is because Lennie got into trouble, and George knew that the people in Weed were going to hurt George. Instead of letting it happen George and Lennie hid and then left the town as soon as they could. When Curley comes into the bunkhouse looking for his dad he notices George and Lennie. He ask Lennie if they are the new guys he father was waiting for, and George answers. Curley wants Lennie to talk, but George told Curley that maybe he didn’t want to talk. Once George gives Lennie a look letting him know that he can talk he tells Curley the same thing George said, and Curley tells him to speak when he’s spoken to. After Curley and Candy leave George tells Lennie “Look, Lennie! This here ain’t no set up. I’m scared. You gonna have trouble with that Curley guy. I seen that kind before. He was kinda feelin’ you out. He figures he’s got you scared and he’s gonna take a sock at you the first chance he gets.” (29) In that quote George is warning Lennie about Curley and telling him to stay away or Curley will cause trouble. He then reminds Lennie of the place he told him to go hide if he got into any trouble. The last way that George protects Lennie is a way that no one would think is …show more content…

George was protecting Lennie, leaving jobs for Lennie, and George was so important to Lennie. It was a sad ending for both Lennie and George because he had to shoot his best friend, but he did it because he cared for Lennie. Lennie had no control of his mental problems and George knew that. George devoted most of his life to Lennie, and he was always on the run, protecting Lennie from people. Lennie cared about George so much, and George cared about Lennie. True friends care about each other enough to help each other in the craziest ways. After starting this new job, George realized that Lennie was never going to not do bad things because of his mentality and after years of moving around to protect Lennie he finally realized what was best for Lennie. We all have that one person who we would do anything for. We all have the best friend that we care about and we have all questioned how true of a friend some people are, but what would you do to help your best friend? You wouldn’t choose to see them suffer a life full of pain after a terrible accident, and in a way that’s what this entire novel was. George just didn’t want to see Lennie suffer anymore just like we wouldn’t want to see our best friend

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