Friendship Themes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The story, Of Mice and Men, opens by descripting the beautiful surroundings of a river bed, and a path that runs to the river. Two men, George and Lennie, enter the story as they walk along the path to this beautiful river bed. George, a small sharp featured man, is accompanied by his companion Lennie, the other main character of the story, who is a large built, awkward man. Both men are adorned with farmer clothing, showing that they work as farm hands. The role and relationship between George and Lennie soon surfaces as they near the river and Lennie begins to get a drink. George, the obvious caretaker of Lennie, warns him to not drink too much or else he will get sick. After complaining about being dropped from the bus far away from their destination, George reminds Lennie of their past movements of the days before and notices that Lennie is holding a dead mouse. Lennie insists that he only wanted to pet the animal, showing that Lennie does not fully grasp his own strength, while George becomes outraged and throws the mouse across the stream. The chapter ends with George explaining their dream

The friendship theme portrayed in the story between George and Lennie shows how important it is to have people in your life, because without them, people become depressed and cruel much like all the other farmhands in the story. The second theme of strong versus the weak is portrayed in many ways throughout each section of the story. Steinbeck puts great emphasis on this theme as he portrays it in two versions. Lennie is his main focus of this theme as he doesn’t know his own strength, and through this lack of knowledge, he is killing animals and finally a person before he himself falls victim to this theme. John Steinbeck, a sort of philosopher, has conveyed many themes or concepts in the story Of Mice and Men, which can be found within the context of