Of Mice And Men How Do Friends Treat Each Other

Really think about this, how do friends really treat each other? Do they ask their friends to come and tag along with them; or do they just say “ Hey I am going somewhere I will be back later?” In the novella Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie are supposed to be best friends, but they're not. In the beginning of the book the boss asks George if he was taking Lennie's paycheck, he says no, but Lennie can not take care of himself let alone him patcheak. In the middle of the book George tells Slim that he picks on Lennie a lot by playing jokes on him that he does not understand. No true friend would leave their friend hanging, yell at them, or make them fear the very thought of them.
First of all, George never ask Lennie he wants to come along or invites him to come with. In between the beginning and the middle of the book, George sits down at the small table and begins to play Solitaire. In this moment in the book this game shows the George feels like that he is alone not physically but, something a bit more beyond that. George does not ask Lennie if he wants to play a card game, so he just sits down and does not even bother to think about Lennie. All throw out
the book it talks about how Lennie is so strong that he can lift a grain bag by himself, but the book never tells us of a time that they both cared a grain bag together. A true friend would help you even if you could lift it by yourself, that is what a real friend would do. This show that George tries to get away from Lennie as much as he can. In the middle of the book George tells Slim about how he picks on Lennie, “One day a bunch of guys was standin’ around up on the Sacramento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke” (Steinbeck 40). When George and Lennie are talking to the boss in the beginning of the book George tells Lennie not to say a word, the reason why he does this is so this way at the end of the mouth George can get all the money. George does not just get his fifty dollars he gets Lennie’s as well, because he is the smarter one out of the two. That does not sound like a true friend at all, if this is a meanig of a true friend then this world is domed.
Secondly, no friend would make there other friends fear them, but in George and Lennie’s socaled friendship, Lennie is afraid of George.
When Lennie killed the puppy he was scared that George was not going to let Lennie tend the rabbits and he kept on thinking that George was going to give him hell. Also when Lennie accidentally broke Curley's wife’s neck, “I don’t want you to yell. You gonna get me in trouble jus’ like George says you will. Now don't you do that” (Steinbeck 91). After Lennie broke her neck all Lennie did is take the puppy so he could hide its body “I’ll throw him away” ”It’s bad enough like it is” (Steinbeck 92) Lennie throw the puppy away so this way he only did one bad thing ( kill Curley's wife) and he hoped that, that's the only thing that he will get hell
for.
Lastly, there is no such friend that takes care of you like a parent takes care of a child. A friend just helps them out every now and again, but with Lennie and George no one acts like the parent. In the beginning of the book George and Lennie are walking down the road and Lennie has a dead mouse in his pocket. George tells Lennie to get rid of it, he does not so George takes the moes and Lennie goes and gets the mouse. George takes the mouse again, yells at Lennie for going to go get it after just after George tells Lennie he could not have it. “Well, you ain’t petting no mice while you walk with me”(Steinbeck 6). This shows us just how much of a parent George is to Lennie, no friend would just upen say you can’t do that with me. In the middle of the book Lennie does the same thing with the puppy, with what he did with the mouse. Lennie tries to sneak the puppy into the bunkhouse, but George ceches him petting the puppy “I tol’ you you couldn’t bring that pup in here” ( Steinbeck 42). This is exactly the same as what happened with the mouse. Lennie was told not to do something and he goes and does it. George being the father had to in fores what he told him not to do.
These reason are just a handful of reasons why Lennie and George are not really friends. Friends do make other friends fear them, avoid them, or parent them. A true friend does not just us a person so they can get some extra money at the end of the day. If anything Lennie and george are more like father and son, not friends. The same thing that was stated before if this is the meaning of true friendship then the world as we know it is domed.