The Role Of Companionship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Of Mice and Men
In the novella, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, first published in 1937 during the Great Depression. It talks about two migrant farm workers that had just moved a few miles south of Soledad to have the “American Dream” since Lennie, one of the main characters that has a mental issue and has a habit of touching soft things had some trouble back in Weed. The two main characters, George and Lennie always find a way to look at the bright side and in hopes that one day they can live on the ‘fat of the land’. Steinbeck also hints that the theme of the novella could be about having companionship.

Crooks proves that companionship is necessary when he states, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. I tell ya a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick.” Crooks knows this because since he’s the only black person on the farm and the fact that he’s crippled, he doesn’t have any friends or someone to lean on. Crooks is so lonely that he would even take Lennie in and consider him someone to lean on, even if he doesn’t understand half of what Crooks is
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Lennie and George always stick together even through thick and thin. Lennie and George represent this theme the best because they’re different from the other workers on the farm. Lennie and George separate themselves from the other workers because they always have eachothers backs and the other men seem to have no one, like slim states, “That gives a hoot in hell” about them. Slim also says, “Ain’t many guys travel around together. I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.” (34-35) This is accurate because George and Lennie instead of going up against each other, worked together so they could both pursue their ‘American Dream’. Both of Lennie and George’s personalities together created a great team. Lennie and George had something they could never let go of, a