An important relationship in the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is the relationship between George and Lennie. I learned many things from this relationship including; that in order to be compassionate people have to make life changing decisions, that some people are willing to sacrifice parts of their lives in order to protect others and the harsh justice system of the era the novel is set in.
An important relationship in the novel is the relationship between George and Lennie. George and Lennie know each other because George was a friend of Lennie’s Aunt Clara. Aunt Clara looked after Lennie because Lennie is autistic and needs someone to care for him. When Aunt Clara died George decided to take Lennie under his wing and looked after him through thick and thin. “We travel around together.” George and Lennie are both ranch workers who travel between ranches to earn money. George and Lennie build a close bond throughout the book as they spend most of their lives together. This relationship is very unusual for the era the story is set in; the Great Depression, 1930’s when most of the ranch workers were solitary men who move from ranch to ranch without much company.
This relationship helped me learn that in order to be compassionate people must make hard life changing decisions. This is shown when George shoots Lennie at the end of the book. George knows that Curley’s men are going to hang Lennie or kill him slowly. George wants the best for Lennie and shows compassion by being the one to kill him quickly and painlessly; not letting Curley’s men get to him. This is a hard life changing decision for George as he knows that for the rest of his life he will be haunted by the fact that he killed his best friend. Yet he chooses it anyway because he thinks about Lennie before himself, which shows that