The Value Of Love In John Steinbeck's Novelette

Driving down the highway around 2:00 a.m. seemed like the only way to get home to see his family by the morning, but in the blink of an eye he was no longer on his way to the house. As he lay dying in the back of the ambulance, someone made the phone call to his wife. In that thirty second phone call, her value of sleep was soon replaced by her unending love for her husband. One value was weakened and the other strengthened. Values are consistently changing and reorganizing. Just as the wife’s value of sleep and value of loved changed instantly, so do one’s values change due to the circumstances they are put in.
Sometimes one’s choices in a circumstance destroy their values. In the fiction Novelette by John Steinbeck, George's choice to murder Lennie destroyed his value of friendship. At the beginning of the novel, George’s friendship with Lennie stood
above all other values, and even when Lennie would push George over the edge, George told Lennie that he “wants [Lennie] to stay with [him];” However, at the end of the novel, it is evident that Lennie’s grave circumstances created the ground for George do to destroy his value of friendship, and George even went so far as to murder his longest and best friend (Steinbeck 241, 309). Often times one chooses to do something that destroys a previous value. In the same way that George destroyed his value of friendship when he murdered his best friend, Peter destroyed his value of loyalty when he denied Jesus three times (NKJV John 18:15-27). Both Peter and George’s values were destroyed when their choices in their given circumstances ended up going against their previous morals and values; furthermore, they both had the option to continue living to the standard they had previously held, but in the moment of test, they decided to go against their morals destroying what they had previously believed and held onto. Often the values one kept at the paramount importance crash to the floor when a circumstance influence the choices that one makes. Just like Peter and George, circumstances test people every day, and their choices affect how they prioritize their values.
Often one’s choices in a circumstance strengthen their values.
In the tragic play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare shows Romeo’s values changing throughout the play. At the beginning of the play Romeo’s value of love was reduced to simply wanting sex and beauty; but, through Juliet’s death, his value of love was strengthened to something he could not live without, and something he died for (Rom. 1.5.50-60, Rom. 5.3.115-120). At first, the very idea of his ex-lover choosing the life of chastity was so foreign to him that he could not bear to be with her; yet, when he grew closer and closer to Juliet his value of love was strengthened to the point that not only could he live without sex, he chose to not live at all (Rom. 1.1.215-220). No one commits suicide because of an infatuation reliant upon sex, but since Romeo fell completely and utterly in love with Juliet that was his only escape from the heartbreak she had caused. His value of love started off as a weak feeling, and ended up being the only value he could not live without; thus, proving that values can be strengthened through the circumstances one’s life
brings.
Circumstances change how people view their values. George’s and Romeo’s values both changed according to their circumstances, and in the same way the United States of America’s (USA) values changed after the tragic events of 9/11. Before the terrorist attack, the USA’s most important value was freedom; However, after the towers fell, not only did the airport security begin to give extensive and invasive security searches, but the National Security Agency passed the Patriot Act giving the government complete access to all phone records and internet records (Patriot Act). The USA had to reevaluate its values and put security over freedom due to the circumstances much like George and Romeo had to reevaluate their values due to their circumstances. Circumstances are constantly changing one’s values, but one can use those circumstances to strengthen or destroy their values.