The Role Of True Friendship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Friendships are important, but what makes a true friendship? The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck explores ideas about true friendships and how dreams affect our lives. George and Lennie are two migrant farmers working on a ranch in Soledad, California in the 1930’s. Lennie an unintelligent, large man who relies on his smaller but smarter friend George to help him make the right decisions. He is a man of great strength, but due to his mental disabilities he cannot control it. George is a small, cunning man who is always on his toes and guiding his friend Lennie. Throughout the novel George was a true friend to Lennie because he cares for the safety and well-being of Lennie, they strived for a common dream and George suffered for Lennie.

An alternate point of view is that George is not a true friend because he kills Lennie at the end of the novel. However If you look at the larger picture you will recognize that George did this to save Lennie from an enormous amount of suffering. In the final chapters in the novel Lennie

George at the end of the novel spares Lennie a massive amount of suffering at his own cost. These are the marks of a true friendship. It is hard to overlook that George and Lennie did not always see eye to eye. Also, George did in fact kill Lennie. However, while looking at the bigger picture, it would be ignorant to think George and Lennie are not true friends. This book made me look around and wonder: Do I have true friends? I have friends, but do they constitute as a true friend? My best answer is maybe. This brought me to my second question: How do I know? Perhaps we don’t have a common end goal, but we all want to graduate and we are willing to help each other there. Also are they willing to suffer on my behalf? I have no idea. This brings me to my Third question: Does it matter? Again, I don’t know. But perhaps if I have one, one day I will