Relationship Between Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is about two ranchers searching and dreaming for their place in Salinas, California, during the difficult times of the Great Depression. These two men, George Milton and Lennie Small are not just friends, they are each other's only family. Of Mice and Men displays the two ranchers friendship and illustrates qualities of friendship and exploring how to be a good friend or family member. Other times, Steinbeck illustrates the outcome of when the relationship starts to fade away or become even more permanent. SE Hinton’s The Outsiders is about a boy growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A teenage boy named Ponyboy Curtis is growing up in an environment where smoking, getting drunk and getting in fights is normal. What …show more content…
They were each other's only family. George needs Lennie in his life because without him he would be very lonely and live the life of a “normal rancher.” Lennie needs George because if he was alone he would not be able to survive because of his mental immaturity. After George was talking about how lonely ranchers are and how they are different, he said, “...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” Lennie is saying that together they can accomplish anything, for example, their dream of owning their own ranch. Lennie’s mental immaturity is a cause of some very important things in Of Mice and Men. For example, the reason George and Lennie had to start a new job was because Lennie doesn’t think about his actions. Since Lennie loves to pet soft things he was touching a woman's dress, but when she told him to stop, he got scared, and when he gets scared he doesn’t let go. “‘They run us outta Weed’ he exploded triumphantly. “Run us out, hell… we run...but they didn’t catch us.’” George was not pleased with what happened because if both of them were caught there is a chance that they would be separated. Even though they didn’t get caught the first time, it happened again and this time it resulted in two deaths. Curley’s Wife was the only woman that lived on the ranch and was married to the headstrong Curly. She uses Lennie’s mental immaturity to her advantage …show more content…
There are four disenfranchised characters in Of Mice and Men they are Lennie, Candy, Curley’s Wife and Crooks. Lennie is an disenfranchised because he cannot think for himself or function safely independently.George has to do many things for him which puts him at a disadvantage when George is not around. Also Lennie does not realize how dangerous he is. First, how he injuries Curley's hand because when he is scared and then again when he kills Curley’s Wife. Candy is disenfranchised because like George, he lost his only family. Carlson kills Candy’s very old dog who is the one that keeps him company because he has no one else. Also, George and Lennie let Candy in on their dream because Candy knows that if he doesn’t leave the ranch he will get fired and then die alone. Candy then had something to live for, but once his opportunity of George and Lennie's dream fell through he had nowhere to go besides to stay at the ranch. Candy was not the only one with his dreams crushed, Curley’s Wife also lost her dream which then resulted in her living on the farm with Curley. On the ranch, Curley’s Wife is the only women. She gets mistreated by many of the ranchers, even her own husband. She knew she wouldn’t have ended up at the ranch if she could get started in the movie business, “He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a