In their relationship, George acts as a fatherly figure towards Lennie, telling him what not to do and not to say anything or speak to anyone. This suggests that Lennie relies on George and George obviously cares about Lennie but is easily frustrated by Lennie’s behaviour. In chapter one, he said that his life would be better without Lennie. “When I think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts. I never get peace.” But when Lennie says he will leave him; George then takes back what he said. “I was just foolin’, Lennie.’ Cause I want you to stay with me.” And the truth is that George enjoys having Lennie, as a way out of the loneliness that all the ranch hands felt.
From Lennie’s perspective George is the most important person in his life, his guardian and only friend. George serves as a role model towards Lennie and Lennie obviously idolises George, because of this Lennie tries to imitate him. This is shown when, “Then he replaced his hat, pushed himself back from the river, drew up his knees and embraced them. Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly.” Lennie looks up to George and every time he does anything that he knows is wrong, his first thought is of George’s disapproval. This also supports that they have a father-son relationship.
On the other hand Lennie and Curley have a negative relationship. Curley and Lennie are two people of totally different personalities. They are both often compared to an animal. Lennie is often described as a ‘bear’. “And he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws." Lennie being compared to an animal conveys the strength and massiveness of him, but also shows his lack of intelligence and control, the same as an animal. Like a bear, he is huge and strong, but has no control.
And Curley is often described as a ‘terrier’. This is shown when, “Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier.” Curley is compared to a small, yappy dog. It also suggests that Curley is a lot smaller than Lennie but is still trying to cause trouble as he tries to earn respect by picking fights. He feels that his small size compromises his manliness; therefore he tries to show his superiority by behaving animalistically. He often picks on Lennie because he doesn’t like ‘big men’, but Lennie is unaware of this. He hopes that by being violent and aggressive towards the weaker characters he will gain authority.
In conclusion, Steinbeck uses language to show how some of the characters felt. And some show it trough the way they act. The companionship of George and Lennie is incomparable. Their relationship is unique as they have each other. The aggressiveness of Curley towards Lennie is a way in which he expresses how he feels about his size and how he thinks that picking on men that are bigger than him will show his superiority. The quotations I used prove the relationship between Lennie and George and Lennie and Curley.
