Of Mice And Men --- How does Steinbeck present the relationship between George and Lennie in section 1 to 3?

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Of Mice and Men

Q: How does Steinbeck present the relationship between George and Lennie in these sections?

Steinbeck presents the relationship between George and Lennie by utilizing a number of literary techniques and devices, particularly in the first 3 section. The skilled and careful presentation of this relationship forms the foundation upon which almost all of the novella's prevailing themes are structured, from the preciousness of companionship to the futility of dreams (and, in particular, the so-called American Dream).

The first paragraph focussing on the men (second paragraph, page 4) opens with the sentence: "They had walked single file down the path, and even in the open one stayed behind the other". Immediately, Steinbeck portrays the essence of George and Lennie's relationship through this first quote about the men: that this relationship had a hierarchy; it was a leader-and-follower relationship, with one member guiding the other. The entire book revolves around this concept (George being Lennie's carer as Lennie cannot lead himself), so it is appropriate that Steinbeck chooses this idea to be the cornerstone of the reader's understanding of their relationship.

However, in order to avoid any assumption that one