Is George a good friend to Lennie in Of Mice And Men

Is George a good friend to Lennie

Of Mice And Men is a thrilling novel about two men embarking on a lifelong journey, slowly trying to obtain the American Dream. They find themselves on the run, now that they are outlaws they must find a source of money and some way of obtaining the American Dream. What starts of to be two men running from the law develops into a deep friendship that will guide them into a world adventure, fear and companionship.

Lennie is a large mentally challenged individual, he lacks the ability to remember things that are not related to his own wants and needs. He is fixated on the feel of animals fur and will go to almost any length to feel it.

George is an uptight guy that must look after Lennie, he knows all the must knows, and has a detailed plan set out in his mind. George is the responsible one me must take full responsibility for Lennie and must look after him all of the time.

Lennie in basic terms is a large child; he is gripped with small and insignificant objects like mice. There is a parent child relationship, George being the parent and Lennie being the child. George becomes very frustrated wit Lennie sometimes and can lash out at him and get very angry with him. George knows that Lennie will not remember this in the morning so he uses this to his advantage and uses him like a stress reliever to release all his anger on him with doing no harm. Lennie is always in debt to George and so never retaliates. He sees him as a brother, Lennie is not an evil being but look that way due to his size, he does kill as the novel reveals but he sees no harm in this as he doesn’t learn, he cant learn. George must take all of the responsibility for Lennie, for is own good; Lennie is a burden to him but cant throw him aside, time has made the link between them stronger and they will stand side by side until they reach their dream; The American Dream.

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George and Lennie travel together to reach their goal, along the way they fantasise about what the future may hold for them. They dream of freedom and peace. Lennie being a child lets his imagination run riot; owning rabbits with different coloured fur and a field for them to run in. George lets him imagine this, as it’s the only thing that keeps him going. George uses this fantasy to his advantage by saying that if Lennie complies with his every command we can have the rabbits and if not then he will have none. This is a parenting technique that he uses as it is the only thing that can work on Lennie. George rewards Lennie for his improvement and will eventually be able to remember it all of the time “Good boy! That’s fine, Lennie! Maybe you’re getting’ better”

When they eventually arrive at the ranch, they encounter new and interesting people. Some are mean, some are persuasive some of them can relate to George and Lennie and some are just plane nice. This is when George must keep alert and make sure that no one pulls any wool over his eyes. He must try to keep Lennie and himself in the shadows and play no role in the act that is ranch life. They must work sleep and eat and that is all no other side bets, they can’t afford to be sacked, he must take full responsibility and must try to survive as long as they can, get on the good side of people and things will be fine. The boss seems to be angry or suspicious that something is wrong and that the pair of them are trying to fool him “Why you trying to put over?” “-What you sellin’?”

During this time George defends Lennie quite strongly, for the job and the fact that he feels close to Lennie and doesn’t want any harm to come to him. The boss must be a lonely man; not entirely by the way that his son acts but by the fact that he cant understands why anyone would go so far for another someone. He can’t see how strong the friendship is between them both and thinks that George is taking Lennie’s wages. “Well I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.” The boss doesn’t care about friendship or camaraderie; his only interest is the flow of money into his wallet. He sees George, Lennie, slim and all of the others as workers, moneymakers, only his son is noticed from the others.

Later on George gets frustrated with Lennie once again but is broken by the entrance of an old man and his dog. In ways the old man and the dog are parallel with George and Lennie, Lennie being the dog George being the old man. They are both very good companions and the George/the old man must take care of their own responsibilities. P46-P48 is saying that they cant loose their jobs they can’t afford that. They must get some money so that they can survive on it and try to leave on good terms with the other workers.

Later we hear of one of the most persuasive and seductive characters in the book. She is married but doesn’t really love the man she married. Curley’s wife is not respected, although she thinks that she is. She acts very lady like around the other men, seducing them so that people will like her, when in fact it’s quite the opposite. People think of her as a tart and is quite easy going. She is like a self-obsessive child, she always wants attention and wants to play “dress-up”.

George plays solitaire with himself, almost trying to predict his and Lennie’s future. Because deep down he knows that his and Lennie’s shared dream will never be true

On P51-P53 there is part that Lennie is very scared and it can be sensed quite easily, he doesn’t want any trouble he just wants to follow orders from George. But what George knows, that Lennie doesn’t know is that life isn’t easy and straightforward and you have to work around things and they must intervene with ranch life and take some risks and place some side bets.

P54-P55 we find that Curley’s wife welcomes slim with a seductive greet, this is a good example of how she wants attention, and a good example of how the men treat her “Well, you ain’t tryin’ very hard.” Slim says

Slim is respected all over the ranch, he a nice guy and welcomes new people. Neither George nor Lennie is threatened by slim.

Carlson is also a kind guy towards George “glad ta Meet Ya’ ”. Although he is not so sympathetic towards the dog he is offering to put the dog down, despite trying to gently argue his way out of it he must eventually comply. On the ranch you have to be a though guy or be respected. You cant argue your way out of it, you just have to bite the bullet and try to keep up your reputation and earn some money, every day is like a small battle.

In conclusion, I think that George is a good friend to Lennie, an unorthodox friend maybe, but a friend none the less. They both keep each other sane and make each other keep on fighting. George offers the plans, the ideas and the practical solution to the problems that they must face, without George, Lennie would be lost.

Lennie provides a reason for George’s existence, Lennie provides a service to George, he does what he asks most of the time and also can take the force of Georges stress and anger. Without Lennie, George would have lost his will to live.

Both of them need each other to survive they depend on each other’s skills and personalities to move on. Although Lennie Is a burden to George he loves the fact that they are together in this.