Theme Of Friendship In Of Mice And Men

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Aristotle described friendship as “it is not for their character that men love ready-witted people, but because they find them pleasant. Friendship is a reoccurring theme in the book entitled Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. During the Great Depression, George Milton and Lennie Small travel around California searching for whatever work they can find George and Lennie make each other stronger by canceling the negative traits of each person. Friendships make people vulnerable to each other because we depend on each other, but it adds significance to people who are friends to an individual. Lennie suffers from a mental disability, and is dependent on George to take care of him and find work for both of them. George, a small man, depends on Lennie …show more content…
In chapter three of Of Mice and Men George is speaking to Slim and says, “Used to play jokes on ‘im ‘cause he was too dumb to take care of ‘imself… I turns to Lennie and says, ‘jump in’. An’ he jumps. An’ he was so nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in.” George is taking advantage of Lennie’s mental disability by giving commands that ridicule him or put him in danger. George just wanted a quick laugh, but he went too far and put Lennie in danger. Later, George reflects on what he did and decided to stop taking advantage of him after the river incident. Close to the resolution of the novel, Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife and was being hunted down by Curly and others. George realizes the only way for Lennie to be humanely punished for killing Curley’s wife is to kill Lennie himself. George causes Lennie to become vulnerable by telling him to look at the mountains and talk about the future they will have together. George then takes Carlson’s Luger and shoots him in the back of the head. “he [George] reached in his side pocket and brought out Carlson’s Luger…’No Lennie. Look down there acrost the river, like you can almost see the place… and George raises the gun and steadied it… He pulled the …show more content…
After Aunt Clara left Lennie, George had to take care of Lennie., Lennie is leaching off George expecting George to do everything for him. “’God you’re a lot of trouble’, said George. ‘I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.’ (Steinbeck 7) George also notices that Lennie, does in fact, limit his social and personal life. Whenever Lennie gets in trouble, George must cover for him or must rescue him. Lennie and George got into trouble in Weed because Lennie grabbed and ripped a girl’s dress off by accident. They were hunted down, and because of George, they left unharmed. “So he [Lennie] reached out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ’cause that’s the only thing he can think to do… He was so scairt he couldn’t let go of that dress.” (Steinbeck

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