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

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An amazingly touching story of male friendship during the Depression Era is told throughout John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men. There are two participants in this friendship: George Milton and Lennie Small. Some details and motives concerning this friend ship are: the basic functions of the friendship, the reason that George and Lennie are so close, and the responsibility George feels towards Lennie. Almost immediately in the story, George is trying to be a kind of guiding hand or protector to Lennie with the suggestion: “Lennie, for God sakes don’t drink so much. You gonna be sick like you was last night” (Steinbeck 3). The friendship these two share is mutually beneficial by simply having someone there for them. Also, as the two characters stated many times, “…I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after me…” (14), they have each other’s backs. So, evidently, the friendship shared between the two provide a warming sense of security and keep them from being completely lonely in their difficult lives. The reasons behind the two friends being so comfortable or close with each other can mostly be sampled in two quotes. In the story, George admits “I've beat the hell outa him, and he coulda bust every bone in my body jus' with his …show more content…
Instead of permitting such a painful occurrence fall upon his friend, George is influenced by Candy saying: “I oughtta of shot that dog myself George. I shouldn’t oughtta of let no stranger shoot my dog” (71). George then understood that Lennie was his responsibility and when the time came, he shot Lennie after making him rapt with the daydream of their own farm. George may have doubted what he’d done was right but Slim reinforced that it was necessary when he said: "You hadda, George. I swear you hadda” (107). In the end, the George kept to his responsibility for his mentally ill
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