Of Mice And Men George And Lennie Friendship

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Friendship The definition of a friend is “a person whom one has a bond of mutual affection.” A friend shows mercy, care, and a friend defends their friend. In the novella “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck there are two friends, George and Lennie. They may be an unlikely pair, but they consider each other best friends. Some believe George was a bad friend to Lennie, but despite the debate I’ve found that George is actually an overall good friend to Lennie. He possessed the qualities of a friend. One of the various qualities George possessed was the trait of being caring. He cared for Lennie’s well-being. The first example of this occurs on page 3. “Geoge for God’ sakes don’t drink so much… You gonna be sick like you was last night.” (Steinbeck …show more content…
One main point they have is that in the end of the book George shoots Lennie. Was this action justified? Considering the circumstances, yes it was justified. If George wouldn’t have shot Lennie, Lennie would’ve been tortured and killed in public, having to face the public humiliation. Those who found him to be a bad friend say that they could’ve ran from the men like they did in the last messy predicament they were in. Realistically, though, this time Lennie didn’t just pull a girl’s dress like he did last time. The men were chasing Lennie because he had murdered a woman. IF they were to run again and be caught, Lennie would have met the same fate, but more brutally. George knew that Lennie couldn’t bare being locked in a jail cell, let alone could he handle being murdered in front of the town. George kept the mentality that if he hadn’t shot Lennie, he would’ve suffered. He wanted the less painful route for his friend. Overall, it can be concluded that showing mercy, defensiveness, and care for someone makes you a good friend. One example of a good friend was George. Given the evidence you can tell George truly loved his friend. He possessed these three qualities of a good friendship. If you were to evaluate your current friendships, do they also consist of these