Of Mice and Men
Cameron Vail
1-A
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a story of george and lennie two migrant workers
who are trying to reach their dream of having their own land and being able to live off it. Throughout
the story george and lennie have each other to keep them going and to get to their dream unlike other
workers who are working for their meals who have nobody. The way Steinbeck creates his message of
friendship is by making it so that george does not want lennie to go away, also letting lennie help to
achieve their dream instead of making him wait so that nothing goes wrong, and lastly instead of letting
lennie get taken by the police or shot by curley to have a slow death george made it quick and painless
as possible.
At the very beginning of the story Lennie and George stop by a pond to rest for the
night, when they are about to eat Lennie asks if he could have ketchup with his beans which sets george
off. When George gets set off he talks about how if he was alone he could be living a great life and he
wouldn't have to run away from situations that Lennie gets them into. At the very end of the rant Lennie
tells george “George, you want I should go away and leave you alone?” and later in the conversation it
says “No-look! I was jus” foolin, Lennie. Cause I want you to stay with me.” this shows that George
doesn't just want lennie around to help him make money then let him go but that he is truly a friend of
Lennie wanting to achieve their dream.
Through the story Lennie has been getting George and him kicked out of wherever they
go. The first time they get run out of town is before the book even starts, its when George and Lennie
were in Weed, Lennie wanted to touch a girls soft dress and George was not around to stop Lennie.
When the girl got out of Lennies grasp she told everyone in Weed that Lennie had raped her. George the
whole time could have just had Lennie stay at the edge of town or hidden away but instead he let lennie
come help even though he knew that he could easily mess up. This shows that Steinbeck made George
always want Lennie by his side because of their friendship because George could easily just kept Lennie
outside the city and made enough money to slowly get to their dream.
At the very end of the book Lennie has gone to the spot where George told him to go if
anything bad happened, so George goes to the spot in order to find him and he finds him sitting near the
water. While there George kills Lennie not out of anger or frustration but out of the mercy of his heart.
The reason why George killed him instead of letting the police get him and probably torturing him to
death, or having Curley making his death as slow and painful as possible. George did the thing that was
in Lennie’s best interest which was to be able to not have gruesome experiments or have Curley shoot
him and just make the Last bit of his life as miserable as possible. This small act of mercy that steinbeck
has in the book shows that George is a true friend to Lennie and wants what is best for him even though
he cared for him so much.
This story has such a strong message of friendship because of how steinbeck made out
how George wanted Lennie to stay ,and just letting Lennie help get their dream, and lastly he showed
mercy to him because of how much he cared about Lennie. This story has many examples of a very
strong friendship between Lennie and george that Steinbeck has illustrated so magnificently that it
touches your heart. This book has a very strong message that was created magnificently by Steinbeck
which has really inspired audiences.