Of Mice And Men Theme Essay

Words: 769
Pages: 4

OF MICE AND MEN THEME

Friendship is the best theme in Of Mice and Men. The main characters: Slim, George, Lennie, Candy and his dog, showed the importance friendship throughout the story. They each showed that people need trust, understanding, protection, and love to produce a baseline for a good friendship. Below are three examples from the story that support the main theme - Friendship.

Trust and Understanding

Trust and understanding are important attributes to friendship. Within the story trust was continuously displayed between George and Slim. A good example of this was when George told Slim everything that had happened to Lennie. He shared their secret about how Lennie accused of attempted rape when all he was doing admiring a little girl’s dress. Due to his mental capacity of a very small child, he did not understand how his actions could be misunderstood. George protected Lennie by running away from that area. At the end of the day, Slim showed he understood George and Lennie’s relationship when he said,"He's jes' like a kid, ain't he” (Steinback 44).
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Love and understanding was shown by the friendship Candy had with his dog. When Candy’s dog was hurt and in so much pain, there was very limited options to relieve the dog. Candy treated his old stinky dog as if it was a human. The only viable option Candy had was to shoot his dog to relieve his misery. His love for the dog would not let him do it. Later he regretted that decision. In the story, it says, “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog” (Steinback 60) If Candy would have let the dog live, it would have suffered. Candy understood pain and did not want his dog to suffer. He wanted his last moments to be a peaceful as possible and maybe have said a few last words before the dog died. This shows how much love he had for his dog and how much he would miss