Of mice and men

A detailed Summary of Of mice and men

In the book "Of Mice and Men", by John Steinbeck, is a story which shows how friendship and loyalty can be the strongest thing in the world until it gets in the way, and begins to get overwhelming. It shows how people can turn on their family, best friend, and even their life-long companions if they have the opportunity for a better life. Steinbeck develops his theme by using relationships, events, outcomes, and conflicts throughout the story. This theme is established in many instances, when George and Lennie share the same dream and Lennie loves when George tells him how it is going to be when they finally own their own house, when candy allows his loyal and loving old dog to be shot in the back of the head, and when George gets angry with Lennie and yells at him when they are in the woods sitting around the camp fire.

George and Lennie have spent the majority of their adult lives together and know each other better than they know anybody else in the entire world. They share their hard times and the good, their victories and their defeats, but most importantly they share a common dream. That dream is of having "a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs an' live off the fatta the lan'"(

When George had the chance to gain something that he wanted, he chose to alienate and kill his most loyal friend in the world. Just as I said, friendship and loyalty can be the strongest thing in the world until it gets in the way, and begins to get overwhelming. Although Steinbeck is not trying to say that you can never trust the people that you call your friends, he is saying to be careful of those who call you a friend but only think of themselves while saying it. Even after spending the majority of his life calling Lennie a friend, George still betrayed him for the chance to become who he wanted to be. As George has showed us, the human trait of loyalty can become very weak if put through the test of time, so avoid trying to test it so that you may not end up as Lennie did, being treated no better than an old man's dog.

George and Lennie have the same relationship that Candy and his dog have shared for so many years. They are as close to each other's hearts as any two people can be in life. George has given up his chance at a somewhat normal life to help Lennie live as full of a life as he is mentally capable of doing. As the story progresses you see that George starts to regret the fact that he is being held back by Lennie: "...crazy son-of-a-bitch. You keep me in hot water all the time"(11). After George said this "His anger left him suddenly." When George blows up on Lennie he then remembers that although he does a lot for Lennie, Lennie does a lot for him. Then George takes what he said back "No-look! I was jus' foolin', Lennie. 'Cause I want you to stay with me."(13) Without each other they both would be lost in life and have nobody else to turn too. This all changes once they get their jobs on the ranch together. George fits in very well with all of the other workers on the ranch and sees that for the first time in his life, he has a chance to live a typical life. He becomes almost obsessed with the idea of being able to have friends and not have to travel all over the place running from the trouble that Lennie has got them into. As time goes by on the ranch where th

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Approximate Word count = 1413
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English