Sacrifices In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

It is necessary to make sacrifices for the well-being of friends. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, ties into this theme through George and Lennie’s relationship. Throughout the story George constantly struggles with the consequences of Lennie’s decisions. After Lennie makes several bad decisions, George is forced to make his own decision to shoot Lennie in the back of the head. The relationship that Steinbeck builds between the two men, based on whom they are throughout the story, helps the reader justify that George’s reason for killing Lennie was the right thing to do.
George is a strong and caring person, and he shows this through all of the sacrifices he has made for Lennie. He is kind to others and knows what he wants to do and
George and Lennie’s relationship really started to take off when George made the decision to help Lennie get out of Weed. From then on they have helped each other out. George helped Lennie get a work card and a job at the ranch (5). Lennie helped George learn a better sense of responsibility and helped him make plans to get a farm in the future (14). From the story the reader gets a sense that George and Lennie have become inseparable. George tells Slim that Lennie may be a nuisance most of the time but he could not get rid of him (41). George also admitted to Slim that one time he told Lennie to jump off a cliff into the water below; Lennie walked right over and jumped in, even though he could not swim, and was thankful to George when he saved him by pulling him out of the water (40). The reader found out at the end of the book that Lennie was shot and killed because he was unintentionally harmful to other living things around him. Since George was his best friend and had been through a lot with him he had to be the one to do it. George said he would protect Lennie, so by shooting Lennie in the head George was protecting Lennie from himself and the others (106). George and Lennie are like brothers so the responsibility of killing Lennie fell to George.
Lennie is hard to handle, but George took on the responsibility and was able to manage it for a while. George and Lennie ended up having a bond like brothers. They would do anything to help the other. The relationship that Steinbeck builds between George and Lennie at the beginning of the book, and continues to strengthen throughout the book, helps the reader except that George had to be the one to kill Lennie. Steinbeck showed that it is necessary to make sacrifices for the well-being of close