George and Lenny's Friendship in Of Mice and Men
The Friendship of George and Lenny
The book Of Mice and Men focuses on the friendship of two migrant workers in California at a time when most of the work was done by people and not by machines. George was a small man who acted worldly and wise. Lennie was a huge man that had the mind of a child. Together George and Lennie would bounce from job to job with no money in their pockets and only the dream of someday owning a place of their own to keep them going. The two men were not able to stay in one place too long because Lennie would get into trouble and George would have to get the two of them out of the bad situation and find a new place to work until the next bad thing would happen. Why would George continue to complicate his life by dragging Lennie around? Why wouldn’t George just set off on his own and make his life a whole lot easier? It was obvious when I read through the book that Lennie could not have survived in the world without somebody like George watching out for him. As the story unfolded I had to ask myself, “Did George need Lennie as much as Lennie needed George?”
Two men traveling together the way George and Lennie did was not very common during this time. Slim said to George on page 39, “Hardly none of the guys ever travel together. I hardly never seen two guys travel together. You know how hands are, they just come in and get their bunk and work a month, and then they quit and go out alone. Never seem to give a damn about nobody.” Why did George and Lennie travel together then? It is easy to answer that question when looking at it from Lennies point of view. Lennie needed somebody to protect him. Lennie had the mind of a small child and would not have been able to find work, feed himself or stay out of trouble if not for somebody like George. The reason why George traveled with Lennie on the other hand is a little bit more complicated. One reason may have been George made a promise to the person who took care of Lennie before
The book Of Mice and Men focuses on the friendship of two migrant workers in California at a time when most of the work was done by people and not by machines. George was a small man who acted worldly and wise. Lennie was a huge man that had the mind of a child. Together George and Lennie would bounce from job to job with no money in their pockets and only the dream of someday owning a place of their own to keep them going. The two men were not able to stay in one place too long because Lennie would get into trouble and George would have to get the two of them out of the bad situation and find a new place to work until the next bad thing would happen. Why would George continue to complicate his life by dragging Lennie around? Why wouldn’t George just set off on his own and make his life a whole lot easier? It was obvious when I read through the book that Lennie could not have survived in the world without somebody like George watching out for him. As the story unfolded I had to ask myself, “Did George need Lennie as much as Lennie needed George?”
Two men traveling together the way George and Lennie did was not very common during this time. Slim said to George on page 39, “Hardly none of the guys ever travel together. I hardly never seen two guys travel together. You know how hands are, they just come in and get their bunk and work a month, and then they quit and go out alone. Never seem to give a damn about nobody.” Why did George and Lennie travel together then? It is easy to answer that question when looking at it from Lennies point of view. Lennie needed somebody to protect him. Lennie had the mind of a small child and would not have been able to find work, feed himself or stay out of trouble if not for somebody like George. The reason why George traveled with Lennie on the other hand is a little bit more complicated. One reason may have been George made a promise to the person who took care of Lennie before