Friendship and Aunt Clara

"Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." (Albert Camus). Both books A Separate Peace by John Knowels and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck focus on friendship. Gene and Finny are best friends but are not always there for each other while George is always there for Lennie in the good and bad. A best friend will be there for you through thick and thin. Friendships develop because of a common bond. Finny and Gene in a Seperate Peace were friends because they both went to the Devon School. Their friendship not only developed because they both went to Devon but because they both had things in common. The boys were jealous of each other. Finny was jealous of Gene being able to get such good grades without really studying and Gene was jealous of Finny being so athletic. George and Lennie became friends because of Lennie's aunt Clara. Geoge knew Aunt Clara and she used to take care of Lennie. But, when Aunt Clara died Lennie had no one to take care of him so George had to step in and take care of Lennie. Both friendships became very strong but they developed in different ways. The friends were always there for each other no matter what. After becoming such good friends, Gene did not want to be less than or disappoint Finny and Lennie did not want to disappoint George. Gene knows he can be the best in the school academically but believes that Finny is trying to take up all his time so that he won't do as well on his tests. If Gene does not get good grades Finny can get ahead of him and Gene can't stand the idea of that. He could not stand the idea of being less than Finny. But, Gene does not want to disappoint Finny. For instance, when Finny found out he could no longer play sports and asked Gene to play sports for him Gene practiced for the Olympics with Finny because he did not want to hurt him anymore than he already had even though he was not actually planning on competing in the