Lennie and George are what some would call unbreakable friends. They would be justified in saying that, there is nothing that would tear these two apart. George is the smarter one of the pair, thus, he looks out for Lennie and takes care of him. George protects Lennie no matter what happens, “Well, that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie” (46). After the incident in Weed, George ran with Lennie and hid with him and in the process of this, he lost his job. George could have kept his job and paid no attention to Lennie and been a lot better off.  Without George, Lennie would have been lost a long time ago.

Lennie would always be that one to get into trouble, and George would always be the one to bail him out. George tries to teach Lennie to fight his own battles. “Gosh, she was purty” (35), Lennie would often say about Curly’s wife, and it eventually got him into trouble that George couldn’t get him out of. When Lennie saw something that he liked, he wanted it, and George couldn’t stop him from getting it. Lennie would often stare at Curly’s wife, not meaning any offence, he just thought she was purty. When ever Curly would see Lennie, he would get angry. Partly because of his hatred of people that are bigger than him, and because Lennie looked at his wife. “What the hell you laughin’ at?” (68). Curly said to Lennie, and in a few moments, Curly took a swing at Lennie. George would yell to Lennie, “Get um’ Lennie!” (69). But Lennie would just sit there and take the abuse. Get um’ Lennie! Get um’! George would repeat over and over until Lennie had enough violence and grabbed Curly’s fist and crushed it. The farm hands told everyone that Curly crushed his hand in a machine to cover it up. Even though George didn’t directly fight Lennies battle, he helped him in a way, to fight back.

They continued to work after the occurrence, but Curly’s wife knew that the story they told he was fictional. Later on she confronted Lennie when George was not around and attempted to talk to him and maybe arouse him. She sat beside him and he liked her smell, and the way she looked, and just like in Weed, he wanted it. “You let go!” (99). She cried when he grabbed her hair, she yelled and scared Lennie so he would not let go. He tried to quiet her and started to shake her. He finally ended up breaking her neck. Lennie ran out and hid in the bush that George had told him to and waited for him. Curly began a lynch to search Lennie, so George took him and ran away. George on his way out took Candy’s gun and Curly’s shotgun. They stopped near the Salinas River and George took out the gun and shot him. This may not seem like an act of friendship, but there wasn’t a lot more that he could do to help Lennie anymore.

George ended Lennies life maybe because he knew they would eventually find them and do worse to him. Or maybe he thought that Lennie could not be helped. Either way, George cared about Lennie and didn’t want to have to do it. George moved on, the friendship had to end, it was better for both of them.

When Lennie says things like “I was only foolin’ George.  I don’t want no ketchup.  I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.” (12) or “George you want I should go leave you alone?” (12) it’s pretty obvious that Lennie is either playing the sympathy card with George or actually cares about him so much as to leave George just so George’s life could be better.  George seems to like Lennie a lot as well and has seemingly grown attached to him.  It’s clear when George says “I was jus’ foolin’, Lennie.  ‘Cause I want you to stay with me.” (13)

However, this book contains more to friendship than just George and Lennie’s.  When they arrive at the ranch, they eventually make friends with such people as Crooks and Candy.  Both being simple people who help around the ranch.  They even get to be somewhat of good acquaintances with another character that goes by the name Slim.

Candy gets very defensive when talking to Curly’s wife.  During a conversation Candy mentions how George, Lennie, Crooks, Slim, and himself, all don’t need that ranch because they plan on getting their own ranch sometime in the near future.  Of course she just laughs at the idea, but the care that Candy shows resembles his friendship with the others.

When Lennie breaks Curley’s hand and his wife wants to know what happened, Crooks and Candy are quick to think of a different story to put the blame on.  They tell her “he got his han’ stuck in a machine ma’am.” (78)  She tells them that story is absurd and surely knows what happened and who did it.  The bond these guys share is shown once again during this time.

Possibly the final act of friendship in the story, if you think about it, is George ending Lennie’s life himself rather than letting Curley get to him first.  George even begged for jail time, but it was no use to convince the stubbornness of Curley.  George’s hand shakes before he shoots Lennie in the back of the head, which is an obvious sign he didn’t want to do this.  After he steadies, he pulls the trigger and does what he probably hoped he’d never have to do.

Even though the friendship was cutoff by one of the friends, that doesn’t make their friendship any less then what it was.  No one can tell if it was for the better, but it probably was.  George and Lennie shared a strong bond and it was too bad that it had to come to such a violent end.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Friendship isn’t the only theme.  It is coupled with others like sorrow and hardship, but those things only strengthen the presence of the bond that George and Lennie have.  George sticks with Lennie through all the hard times of traveling from ranch to ranch, on the run, with no money.

George is always giving Lennie a hard time and at times seems like he is being downright mean, but deep down, he loves Lennie like a brother.  Whenever Lennie asks George to tell him about the rabbits, he (reluctantly) does it:  “‘You get a kick outta that, don’t you?  Awright, I’ll tell you, and then we’ll eat our supper…’” (13).  He is compelled to make sure Lennie is happy and safe.  That’s how I am with my brothers anyway.

George is worried about Lennie and vice versa.  They need each other whether they know it or not.  To quote a movie that is one of the most over-quoted ever, they “complete” each other, and if one of the halves is broken, well, there really isn’t a point, is there?  When Lennie was looking at Curley’s wife, George knew what could potentially happen.  He gets after Lennie when he told him to “keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rat trap if I ever seen one” (32). 

Many could argue that if George was a true friend, he would have let Lennie go and run off with him again; that what he did was cold hearted and unnecessary.  However, the book states that “George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again” (105).  To me, that suggests, not even suggests, it flat out tells you that George truly didn’t want to kill Lennie and that he didn’t have another choice.  Prison life for Lennie would be no good.  He wouldn’t be able to handle it in a cell by his self.  Not to mention, Curley hated his guts and would surely use this to torture him a great deal.

In killing Lennie, George killed a little bit of himself.  His dream, their dream of the farm and the rabbits, died with Lennie.  I feel that George wouldn’t be able to go on like he normally would with Lennie around.  I mean if one of the halves is broken, well, there really isn’t a point, is there?