What Is The Difference Between George And Lennie Friendship

Any type of organisms need specific things in order to survive, for example, plants needs water, sunlight, and nutrients; animals needs water, food, oxygen, etc. And for us, human beings, we need oxygen, water and food to survive, but to maintain a healthy life, we would also need a friend(s). A person can live without a friend, but they might end up having mental illness and such. But it is actually not as easy as you think to find a real friend that will be your friend forever. For instance, some people might have a large group of friends during their freshman year in high school, yet when they get to their senior year they might end up having only one friend whom they can still tell their secret to or share their feelings to without
hesitating. The reason for that is a friend is not just simply someone that you can have fun with all the time.
A true friend is someone you can trust, someone that can forgive you for what you have done, someone that accept everything about you, and moreover, someone that will be with you physically or mentally when you need them. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, all of the qualities that makes a marvelous friendship applies to the friendship between George and Lennie. George and Lennie are ranch workers that have been traveling together during the Great Depression. The friendship they have is undoubtedly important to both of them, they would not be the same person if they were not there for each other. Lennie is mentally handicapped, he does not know how to socialize with people normally, therefore he needs a friend that can help him get through this hardship, which in this story is George. Suppose that George is not with him, he would not be able to live
properly, and he would eventually bring himself into oodles of trouble. On the other hand, George also needs Lennie in furtherance of getting a job. “No, he ain’t, but he’s sure a hell of a good worker. Strong as a bull.” (p.22) Compare to Lennie, George is just an average worker, thus, he and Lennie get a job from ranch easier only with the great strength Lennie have. Another thing that make their companionship valuable is the trust they have on for each other. When Crooks try to scare Lennie away, he asked what would Lennie do if George is not with him anymore, and Lennie answers “He won’t do it, George wouldn’t do nothing like that.”(p.70) The loyalty they have on each other can also be seen by the end of the book, they shows how much they rely on each other when they talk about their common dream. George said, “Because I got you an’-----”(p.102) Lennie add on to that and reply, “An’ I got you. We got each other, that’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us,”(p.102) Throughout this book, the two men have clearly proven that an element to create a great friendship is trust. As a teenager, I think I have been handling my friendship pretty well.
I have couple of best friends, all have them are friends of mine for more than nine years. And the one I think is most unique compare to other is the friendship I have with my primary classmate, Yannes. We met in each other in school when we were first grader, we somehow became friend right away, probably just because we sat next to each other. But we were arranged into different classes in our second and third year of elementary school, so we became a Hi-Bye friend in that period of time. From fourth grade, we were in the same class for three years in a row, which is how we get to know each other more and more and end up being each others’ best friend. It was great up to that point, but by the end of sixth grade, I became friends with two other girls and so I stop hanging out with Yannes as much as I did before, she also started to isolate me. We were kind of in the dead silence mood for couple of months, but this was breaked the day before I immigrated to U.S. That night before I flew, Yannes called me, she confess to me about how she feels for me not talking as much as I did and she started to cry, I started to cry too. We forgave each other, and we started to chat with each other again, and now she is the only primary schoolmate that still Skype with me every long holiday. Even though we do not have the chance to hang out with each other in person due to the extremely long distance, we still
know by heart that we will always be there for each other when we need. Everyone might have a different definition for a wonderful friendship, some might say being able to get benefits from each other is a good friendship, and some might say being capable to have fun with each other is what build up a great friendship, all these can be true, but what really makes you able to share your feelings, get benefits or fun from each other is the trust you have among friends. The friendship between George and Lennie, Yannes and me is similar because we have faith/trust in each other, we can work well with each other because we trust one another, we can share our thoughts since we trust each other. These does not just happen all in a sudden, we build the trust we have for each other by time goes by, people learn about each other as time pass, and they will build the trust they have for the people over time as well. Thus, it is not effortless to get a friend, time is what it takes to have a real true friend.