Lennie and George’s father and son like relationship is clearly one of love, although from the beginning we sense George’s frustration due to Lennie’s constant childish behaviour. George is very protective over Lennie, “Lennie for God’s sake don’t drink so much!” because he has been told to look after him by his “Aunt Clara”. George does like having Lennie around as he says, “No you stay with me”. As Lennie and George are itinerant workers, it can be a very lonely life so the fact that they have each other means that they are very lucky. However this constant responsibility can obviously present problems, George says “When I think of the swell time I could’ve had without you”, having Lennie around has stopped him from doing lots of things other men of his age would’ve done.
George is quite clearly the leading role in their relationship. As we know, Lennie is mentally not all there as he uses simple and un-educated language, such as ‘Look, George. Look what I done.” Due to Lennie being childish and not very intelligent it means that he has to rely on George an awful lot. An example suggesting that Lennie is reliant on George is that “They had walked in single file down the path”. This suggests that George is in control and acts as a parent like figure, it also showing George’s intelligence and maturity. This responsibility that George has to look after Lennie means that he is very protective, he says “Don’t drink so much”. This is an example of George being a paternal figure, this is an imperative and he says it sharply implying that he is worried about George. George has to repeatedly remind Lennie if he wants him to do or not do something.
In the 1st chapter it is suggested by Steinbeck that Lennie has animal qualities to match his childish behaviour. His big stature makes up for his childish behaviour as George can get Lennie to do tasks that he wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, as he is small. He