Relationship Between George And Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In life, people are taught that true friendship comes when two people rely on each other to make their lives great, and to help them when times get tough. Friends are supposed to be there with you when you’re at your best, but also when you’re at your worst. There is no better example of this lesson being used in action than from the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. In this novel, we see two men, George and Lennie, and their struggle to make it on a working ranch. George, a hard-working man, must lead himself and Lennie to success. However, Lennie is mentally disabled and cannot function very well on his own. Lennie must use George as a crutch in order to find work and fit in with society. From the story of these two men, we see that

This is due to Lennie’s mental disability making it impossible for him to communicate to others in a way in which seems normal. Although it comes off as being sarcastic sometimes, George often voices his frustrations with having to care for Lennie the way he does. George says, “‘God, you’re a lot of trouble. 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’” (7). This, however, is not the only time George expressed his desire to journey alone without the company of Lennie. He is constantly repeating the fact that he would be far more successful without him. The reader does not even need George to verbally address how his journey would be easier without Lennie, because Lennie’s actions speak for themselves. George and Lennie were chased off their old ranch after Lennie got aggressive with one of the women on the ranch. In fact, Lennie is so unpredictable that George actually makes a plan for the two men in case Lennie blows their cover at the new ranch. Although there is a full list of reasons on why Lennie makes George vulnerable, because of his situation, Lennie makes George a better person. Essentially, Lennie gives George meaning in life. When Lennie asks George about his Aunt Clara, we see how Lennie’s life has actually been. After Lennie lived with his aunt, he began living with George. Because of this, Lennie became a

However, similar to the previous case, as vulnerable as George makes Lennie, he also makes him a better person. In the beginning of their relationship, George often teased Lennie to the point that one may call ‘bullying’. At the time, George didn’t think he was doing any harm. However, he made Lennie extremely vulnerable. While George is talking to Slim in chapter three, George explains one time when he made Lennie extremely vulnerable. George says, “Tell you what made me stop that [bullying Lennie]. One day a bunch of guys was standin’ around up on the Sacremento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him… Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more” (40). Obviously, George has had a history of tormenting Lennie to the point of making him so vulnerable that he almost drowned. However, the last thing that George said in the quote is very important. “I ain’t done nothing like that no more.” Instead of picking on Lennie, George decided that it was his responsibility to look out for him. By doing this, he essentially became Lennie’s ‘helping hand’. Ever since Lennie’s aunt Clara died, George has been right there to help him find a job and live as if he didn’t have a mental disability. Even though finding a job would be incredibly easier without Lennie, George took the risk of letting Lennie