Paolo Benvenuto
C. Puckett
10th Grade CP LA
25 February 2005
Of Mice and Men
     Of Mice and Men was written during a period of racism. In the 1960's it was important for everyone to get along with eachother because not everyone was equal. George and Lennie showed a great part in friendship throught the whole book. At the ranch in Selinas mostly everyone showed friendship in some way. Friendship was a great factor when the book was published because of all the racism going on at the time.
     Friendship has a big part to do with Lennie and George’s dream of owning a small farm and raising animals. George and Lennie both set their mind to accomplish their dream and go to work on a ranch for little pay. Another friend of George overhears George and Lennie talking about their idea, Candy offers to put in his monthly wage to buy the farm as long as he lives on it. Lennie and George have to go through many things on the farm and still stick together like brothers. Curley, the son of the boss, runs most of the ranch and has a mean attitude towards George and Lennie, George then realizes that no one cares for Lennie like he does. George and Curley’s wife create a strong bond throughout the book , but George wants nothing to do with it because he is there to accomplish his goal not to start relationships. Many factors in this book show a sense of friendship in some way.
     Both George and Lennie build a strong friendship with the men at the ranch even though it may be through hatred. Lennie and the puppy build one of the strongest friendships in the ranch. Lennie has a problem of touching everything that is soft, George promised Lennie he could have his own rabbits one day. Lennie kills the puppy by petting it to hard and he gets really upset. Curley’s wife offers Lennie to pet her soft hair, Lennie grabs her to hard which resulted in Lennie breaking her neck. George and Lennie’s dream of having a farm one day is ruined because of something Lennie did wrong.
     Many conflicts start to pull George and Lennie apart throughout the whole book. George gets tired of dealing with all the bad thing Lennie does, therefore he ends up killing his best friend as much as he did not want to. When Lennie killed Curley’s wife George knew it was over so George decided to put a end to his missery before someone else killed him. George is forced to shoot Lennie in the back of the head because of the incident that occured. The men do not understand why a best friend would kill another best friend so they all leave in confusion. The only person who understands is Slim. Slim knows what George goes through and understands why he did it. Friendship has to end somewhere no matter how deep the friendship is.
     Friendship played a big part in the story. All the incidents that happened between friends throughout the book led to the tragic end . One thing can make you believe you can accomplish anything in the world. George believed in himself to accomplish his goal of having a farm , but at the end he ends up failing and killing his best friend. All the men in Of Mice and Men came together to believe that one dream could get you anywhere. The men all became good friends even if it was through good or bad times. Friendship will always be one of the bigegst factor in society liek it was back then.