Of Mice And Men Friendship

Many times, it is debated as to what the most important quality of friendship is. Some say it is kindness, while some say it is trust. In the story Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the similar relationships between George and Lennie and Candy and his dog, as well as their mistakes, to say that thinking of others before oneself is the most important part of a friendship. Thus, Of Mice and Men creates a parallel between the friendships between George and Lennie and Candy and his dog in order to suggest the value of selflessness in friendship. The first similarity between the relationships of George and Lennie and Candy and his dog is that Lennie and the dog are very similar. This is because they are both suffering. For example, Candy’s
This is because both of them love their companions to the point of toxicness. For example, Candy is very attached to his dog. When he is told that he should shoot him to take him out of his misery, he blatantly shoots the idea down. More specifically, he says, “‘Well--hell! I had him so long, Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him.’ He said proudly” (44). Clearly, Candy is very attached to his dog and afraid to separate from him. He is letting this cloud his judgement about what to do. Even though it would be better if he killed his dog, Candy is unable to let his dog go because of his emotional attachment. This makes Candy selfish because he can only think of his desire to keep the dog alive, and he does not consider the pain it will cause the dog. George has a similar attitude about Lennie. George is set on trying to help Lennie and keeping him around even after all of the bad things he’s done. Even though Lennie has killed a person, been accused of rape, and does not have enough common sense to keep from doing these things again given the opportunity despite him hating himself for it all, George still lets Lennie stay with him. He constantly offers to go off and live in a cave, but George always tells him to stay. For example, Lennie says, “Well, I can go away,” said Lennie. “I’ll go right off in the hills an’ find a cave if you don’ want me.” George shook himself again. “No,” he said. “I want you to stay with me here.” (104). Lennie is on a self-destructive path, and George knows this. By keeping Lennie with him he is just making it worse. By keeping Lennie with him, George is giving him more opportunities to mess up and suffer from them. He could easily get rid of Lennie at any time, the same way that Candy could kill his dog at any time. However, both men are too selfish to see that the only way to truly look out for and uphold the promise of friendship