George And Lennie's Relationship example essay topic

George and Lennie have a bond so sturdy that when one is destroyed, the other was as well. In Of Mice and Men a book written by John Steinbeck it often stresses how ranchers are loners, and George and Lennie are the only ones who travel in pairs. They " re like two halves of the same person, and they know how special together they truly are. "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world... They got no family. They don't belong no place...

With us, it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us... ". (page 11). These were real true friends to each other. At the end of the novel George shoots Lennie, many could preach and say he did this out of malice however I believe this shows how strong the bond was between them as friends. George shot Lennie for his own good; George couldn't sit and watch Lennie die a slow cruel death to the hand of the other ranchmen so instead he killed Lennie quick and in a more humane manner.

He didn't want to be like Candy, he didn't want to rethink his actions as Candy did. George held back his own feelings of love and happiness so that Lennie could go to a better place. Once the ranchmen found out that Curly's Wife had been killed by Lennie nothing but bad things came out of their mouth about the way in which they would kill Lennie. As Curly said.

".. When you see 'um don't give 'im no chance. Shoot for his guts". George heard this and more come from the other men and how they were going to make him pay for what he had done.

He knew that Lennie had never meant to do this on purpose he never have the brains to do such a thing but the other men didn't care how dumb he was they just wanted blood. So when George went to Lennie he knew that there was no way that Lennie would come out of this alive. So instead of letting the other men kill him in such brutal and painful way, George did it himself. He told Lennie the story of the farm they were going to own and shot him in the back of the head. He knew that this was the right way to do it, the less painful approach. He learned this from Carlson when he talked to Candy about killing his dog.

George and Lennie's relationship was much like Candy and his dogs' relationship. They both had had each other so long that it was like being a member of the family and they both took care of each other. Candy felt he had done something immoral when he hadn't killed his dog himself and instead of letting Carlson perform it. George didn't want to feel that, he didn't want to carry that with him for the rest of his life, he didn't want to know that he could have made Lennie passing easier, calmer, and less painful for him and that's why he did it he didn't want to be like Candy he didn't want to have the regrets about what he had done. When Carlson talked to Candy about his dog he explain that the way he was going to do it, it was going to be less painful. "If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head-'he leaned over and pointed 'right there, why he'd never know what hit him' " (page 45).

This helped to show George that Lennie's death didn't have to be painful and gave him an easier way out with less guilt. But there will always be guilt in George's mind, when George killed Lennie he killed their dreams along with it. Sometimes, even though it's not what you want, you have to do what's best for you and those you love. George never wanted to kill Lennie he did any thing he could to get the men not to kill Lennie, he pointed them in the wrong directions, he tried to plead with them not to kill him and he set a place for Lennie to go if he did get in trouble. But the men found Lennie and so before they could kill him Lennie killed him so Lennie's pain would not last long.

All the hopes and all the dreams that Lennie and George had together were ended because a man's ability to dream is directly attached to having someone to share the dream with. And even though he knew this, he could let them do any harm to Lennie, he thought of Lennie's feelings before his own". I got you an' you got me. We got each other, that's what, that gives a hoot in hell about us" (page 104) those were some of Lennie's last words, and this I think explained their whole relationship, they needed each other as friends, as co-workers and as family. Stienbeck's novel shows the companionship between a mentally ill man and his loyal friend. George and Lennie's relationship was so superior to others that they were able to look beyond their own feelings and look towards the others.

Though their relationship wasn't like a normal mans relationship and was more like a bond like Candy and his dog had, it was still far better then ones some people ever have. No matter how much it hurt George to do what he did he knew it was right and he knew that Lennie was going to a better place, a place that no one could hurt him. It seems these kinds of friendships only happen in books and if anyone ever had this true of a friend they are beyond doubt lucky.