The Key to Living a Happy Life
The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is about two migrant workers, Lennie and George, who go to work on a ranch in California and learn how special and important their friendship is. Migrant workers are workers that move from place to place leaving their friends behind. They are not able to maintain friendships and often don’t want to even try and start a friendship. At the ranch, Lennie and George meet many people that help them decide their future and help them realize that friendship is a very unique exclusive thing. Throughout the novel, many characters experience loneliness longing for a friend or someone to talk to while others, with friends, learn the importance of having a friend at your side.
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Crooks is the only african american on the ranch, so none of the white men want to share a cabin with him. Crooks has a cabin by the stable which smells and is very uncomfortable, and so he is the one that works the stables and does all of the dirty work. Since Crooks has his own cabin he can spread out and “...Crooks could leave his things about and being a stable buck and a cripple, he was more permanent than the other men, and he had accumulated more possessions than he could carry on his back.” (67) Since Crooks wasn’t really able to work hard because of his back, he was one of the men that was permanently on the ranch, and not really a migrant worker. Crooks slept in a cabin on his own and didn’t have to care for anyone, being very lonely. When Lennie comes to visit him Crooks is caught off guard since after all who would want to speak with a black man? Crooks gets pretty comfortable with Lennie and finally confides in him about his loneliness. He starts telling Lennie that, “The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that.” (70) Crooks used to have friends when he was younger who were white, because they were children and didn't know anything about difference of race until their parents taught them. Now on the ranch there are no white men willing …show more content…
On the ranch, George and Lennie recognize how special it is for them to be buddies and travel from place to place together. While George and Lennie were coming to the ranch, trying to get the job of bucking barley bags, the boss was interested in the fact that George was caring so much for Lennie and that he spoke for him. The boss has “never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.” (22) George and Lennie walk right up to the ranch getting ready to start their new job, and are asked a few questions by the boss. When George is the only one that speaks the boss is a little suspicious and wonders why Lennie hasn’t spoken. George and Lennie have a conversation and understand that they are lucky, “because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” (14)George and Lennie have a conversation before coming to the ranch about the dream life they want to live, and about how they live verses how regular men of The Great Depression live. George and Lennie realise that they have eachothers back, but they don’t realize how rare their relationship actually is. George and Lennie are constantly reminded that it is not normal for men to travel for so long together, and to care for each other as much as George did for
To begin with, according to Lucius Annaeus Seneca, “One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood”. Even this quote explains that true friendship is when an individual stands for another individual. In the novel Of Mice and Men, author John Steinbeck examine the idea of friendship between two migrant ranch worker even when there was difficulties. Through the character of Slim and George, author Steinbeck illustrates friendship and reveals that friendships stand up for each other even when is difficult time.
Crooks, the black stable buck, is isolated from the community of migrant workers because of his racial status. When Lennie goes into the barn to see his puppy, he and Crooks have a conversation. “'Why ain't you wanted?' Lennie asked. 'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black'” (68). Lennie is too kind-hearted and intellectually slow to visualize the apparent racial boundary that sets Crooks aside from Lennie and the rest of the workers. Crooks is so isolated from the rest of the workers that he says he “can't” play cards, not that he isn't allowed to, which means that the racial boundary is like a wall Crooks cannot cross. Because he is black, Crooks believes that he cannot play cards with the white men. He can't get over the racial boundary, and believes he will be forever separated from the white men. In the beginning of chapter 4, Steinbeck describes Crooks' living space. “Crooks, the Negro stable buck, had his bunk in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the...
"Crooks is a black man that experiences isolation because the society in which he resides is racist. As a result, the previous quote was his means of finding a personal connection to Lennie. Like Lennie, Crooks has a "relationship" with loneliness. He knows that when people get lonely, they tend to get sick. Crooks is rejected from every group of people and cannot socially interact with others.
In Crooks’ case, he is isolated because of his race. When Crooks talks to Lennie about why he is excluded from the bunkhouse, he responds with, “Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black” (Steinbeck, 68). Crooks feels that the other men on the ranch exclude him. Another example of this is when Curley's wife says to Crooks, “Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny” (Steinbeck, 81). Curley's wife is being
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.
Steinbeck believed that friendship was important. Lennie knows that George will always have his back, although Lennie cannot really protect George he feels like he can (Steinbeck 14). Even though George says, he does not want Lennie with him, he does not want to leave him by himself (Steinbeck 13). When Lennie and George first get to the ranch, the boss starts to ask them questions. George answers all of them even if they were asking Lennie. He knows that if Lennie talks, he might say what happened in Weed (Steinbeck 22). The boss, at the new farm, thinks that George only wants to take Lennie money. But George tells him that he only wants to take care of Lennie. The boss tells George that he had never seen two men traveling together like him and Lennie (22).
In Of Mice and Men, friendship is dangerous: every time any character gets close to any other, something goes wrong. George Milton and Lennie Small are the two main characters in the novel, who are California farm workers, traveling from ranch to ranch to find work. But what makes them unique is that they travel together. Unlike the rest of the workers, George and Lennie are not alone; they have each other. Lennie and George, who come closest to achieving this ideal of brotherhood, are forced to separate tragically.With this, a rare friendship vanishes, but the rest of the world represented by Curley and Carlson, who watch George stumble away with grief from his friend’s dead body fails to acknowledge or appreciate it. All of the
The theme of friendship is explored throughout the novel “Of Mice and Men.” George and Lennie have been traveling together to every job they had. George and Lennie have something that very few people of the time have, friendship. They have each other, and that's more than many migrant workers have, even today. On page 15, it says, “With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to and give a damn about us.” They have each other, and that is all they really need.
Whether it be a man and a woman or a dog and his owner everyone needs someone to love. In the book Of Mice and Men by John steinbeck a popular topic that occurs is companionship. Companionship is vital in everyone's life. Without someone to bring fill you up, you are never whole.
George and Lennie are saving up money to buy themselves a place to live in. George describes it as, “Ten acres, got a little win’mill. Got a little shack on it, an’ a chicken run. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, ‘cots, nuts, got a few berries …”. Today the American Dream is still alive. People come from all over the world to the USA to work hard and have their own house with a white picket fence. Everyone in the story that had George and Lennie’s job before them had the same dream. They all had the same dream of having their own little ranch and to get it they would work and save up a little of money every payday. And by a few years they would have enough money to buy their own
As made evident in many aspects of life, there are both good and bad relationships. This can also be seen in a variety of literary works, especially Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men demonstrates that relationships often are composed of a strong and a weak person. However, this does not mean that all relationships are negative.
“The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it.”---Hubert H, Humphrey. The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck has a reoccurring theme of friendship. George and Lennie are two migrant farmers trying to find work in the 1930’s around Salinas, California. George Milton and Lennie Small are trying to unite with friendship that puts them over all others.
In a world of loneliness and labor, one rare friendship blooms and grows until one is shot dead and the other left in misery, grief, and pain. Of Mice and Men shows us this as John Steinbeck ties the reality and hardship of The Great Depression with a rare bond of friendship represented by George and Lenny in this novella. You can always find a friend, no matter how lonely this world gets is the theme of this book because George and Lenny made everyone see that their friendship was strong and that they were loyal towards each other. Lenny is the main symbol of a savior for he saw everyone as a friend, regardless of sex, race, age, or their disabilities. To me, friendship is a gift that should always be kept and never lost even though at the end, we may lose them.
Over the years my class had read and learned about many novels. My class has their favorites but personally my favorite was “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. This book made me realize what true friendship really is. Friendship is having a companion to stand by your side and be present when needed. George and Lennie are friends who vision a farm they will own together. Lennie has a mental disability and depends on George for guidance and protection. George cares for Lennie but knows life would be easier without having to care for Lennie. Lennie looks up to George, he wears the same clothes and imitates his gestures. One of the most important things in life is friendship, without a friend people become lonely. Everyone at one point in life
What is your definition of a true friend? Well, to me, a true friend is someone who understands you, accepts you for who you are, and is willing to do anything for you. While reading John Steinbeck’s classic, Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie maintain a true friendship despite all the ups and downs they encounter. After Lennie Small, a man as gigantic as a mammoth with a pea-sized brain is caught touching a girl’s dress in the town of Weed, he and his best friend, an average migrant worker, George Milton, travel a strenuous journey to the town of Soledad and start working on a ranch. The young men come to realize that they have a true, brotherly bond and nothing can separate them. Even though the book has its rough spots, Steinbeck portrays the true bond of friendship that even people as close as siblings have. Throughout the story, George