Jeremy Keeshin

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Friendship is a plethora of things. It exists everywhere in the world around us in

primitive forms, but the basis is very complex. To truly understand friendship, we must

understand the interactions between humans. The novel Of Mice and Men is a perfect

demonstration of the possibilities friendship can be. It is a window into seeing and

comprehending the details embedded in camaraderie. Friendship can be as simple as

conversation. As Crooks puts it, “It’s just the talking. Its just bein’ with another guy”

(Steinbeck 71). The most singular affiliation in the book is between the two main

characters Lennie and George. The relationship between Lennie and George is an

amalgamation of necessity and habit that has created a mutual dependence between them.

The reader finds out the initial relationship between Lennie and George in the

beginning of the story. They come into contact because of Lennie’s Aunt Clara. From that

point on Lennie is a responsibility of George. He has to care for him because that is what

is required of him. This part of their relationship is out of inevitability. Someone has to

care for Lennie, and that someone is George. As the book repeats many times, Lennie is

not the brightest one in the bunch, and it is truly mandatory that he has someone to watch

out for him.

Another essential aspect of the relationship is habit. The reason Lennie doesn’t go

off into a cave like he threatens countless times and the reason George doesn’t just leave

Lennie one day for an easier, more facile life is because they are accustomed to each

other. They have gotten used to the way things go when the other is around. This aspect

of their relationship is routine. They know what to expect from the other, which is

something that you can’t always find in every relationship. As George says in the book,
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“You get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him” (Steinbeck 41).

This passage really depicts the way George feels about Lennie.

Another essential in the relationship between Lennie and George is the

interdependence between them. George is clearly a father figure to Lennie, and this is a

dominant factor in their friendship. Lennie depends on George to guide him through each

day and be there to give him advice on life. Because of Lennie’s mental limitations

George needs to aide him quite often. We can see the extent of Lennie’s trust and

dependence of George by the quote when George explains to Slim, “If I told him to walk

over a cliff over he’d go” (Steinbeck 40). This shows that Lennie takes George’s every

word as divine and will follow it no matter what.

We can also see how others notice the relationship between George and Lennie

when the boss says to George ““I’ve never seen one guy take so much trouble for another

guy” (Steinbeck 22). It is definitely evident to the others on the farm that George and

Lennie have something in their friendship that is exclusive and unique to them. That is

why it is even more astounding to read that George murders Lennie. You would think that

that would be the last thing that any friends would do to each other. But then when you

look at it from a different perspective you can see that the motivations and intention

behind this action could be different than at first glance. It can be thought that by George

murdering Lennie, he is only saving him from the other worse things that could reach him

if he did not resort to this.

Overall it is clear that the relationship between George in Lennie is exceptional in

its own way. Steinbeck takes the concept of friendship to a new level and gives it a

deeper meaning. This book helps one to see friendship in the big picture. It helps to see
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how friendship affects life, not just how it affects the exact moment that you are in. It

helps to see over the petty incidents and into the real lifelong value of camaraderie. It

does that but then it does much more. And that is just one of the many things we can learn

from George and Lennie and Steinbeck in the novel Of Mice and Men: Friendship is a

myriad of things.