“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” (Steinbeck). John Steinbeck’s famous novel, Of Mice and Men, is about an unlikely pair, Lennie and George. The two men embark on a journey to find work so that they can eventually get the money to purchase a ranch of their own. Their relationship begins when Lennie’s Aunt Clara passes away, and George promises to take care of Lennie because he is mentally handicapped. From that point on, George learns that Lennie is not so smart. However, he is a great worker because he is very large and strong. George looks after him and becomes accustomed to him. However, Lennie’s mental state causes them to run into some problems. Those problems lead to the end of their relationship when George remains faithful to that same promise he made to Lennie’s aunt years ago. In this novel, the author develops the themes of dreams, loneliness, and friendship through the relationship of the dubious duo.
Towards the beginning of the book, Steinbeck writes about a dream that seems to be important to both characters. A plan to have a place of their own where they can live off of the land. After Lennie pleads with George to talk about their hopes for this future farm, George says, “We’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it and listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof…” (Steinbeck 16). Lennie longs for a place where he can tend rabbits so that he can pet their fur. George, the smaller but more intelligent of the pair, longs for a place where he does not have to worry for Lennie so much. This dream gives them both purpose by driving them to work hard and save their money. After altering the plan to include Candy, an elderly man on the farm who has money saved up, they determine that the fantasy can and will soon become a reality. Not only do they think about what their lives can be like together, but George often dreams of his life without Lennie. While thinking about everything that happened in Weed with the girl in the red dress, George says, “I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.” (7). George, after all, is ruggedly handsome and smart. If it were not for his child-like counterpart, he could successfully hold down a job, get married, and have a family. Although George would be lonely without Lennie, he still wanders what if.
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The theme of loneliness is established as the author makes it apparent that Lennie would be lonely without George, and George would be lonely without Lennie. When Crooks, the black stable hand, suggests that George would leave Lennie, Lennie gets upset and says, “George wouldn’t do nothing like that. I have been with George a long time. He’ll come back tonight----”. (78). When Lennie says that George will come back, it seems as though he says it to reassure himself. At the very mention of George leaving him, Lennie becomes hurt, defensive, and doubtful because without George he would be all alone. This theme is also developed after George kills Lennie. The first thing George says after killing his bona fide buddy is that he needs a drink. George now has no one else. He was already living without a family or a girl, and now he has to live without a best friend.
Additionally, the theme of friendship is shaped throughout the entire novel by the twosome. Friendship is about being selfless. The altruistic nature of their relationship is beautifully summed up early on when Lennie says, “Because . . . . because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” (15). Although Lennie’s handicap can make it testing at times, Lennie always tries to please George. Even if it means giving up things he likes to keep George from being angry, Lennie selflessly does so. Also, George proves to be a friend to Lennie by tending to him. Not only does George do this because he made a promise, he takes care of him because he is his best friend. He cooks for Lennie when they are in the forest. He holds onto Lennie’s work forms on the way to the ranch. He even thinks of a safe place for Lennie to go just in case he were to get in trouble. George never leaves Lennie’s side. Even if it means he has to describe the farm they are going to have to Lennie a million times, he stays. Even if Lennie makes his life difficult, he does not leave. Even in Lennie’s death, George is alongside him. George killed Lennie as an act of friendship. After Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife, George takes care of him by killing Lennie himself because he is preventing Lennie from having a less merciful death. George proves to be undoubtedly selfless when he takes the life-only friend.
In Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George become friends. As their friendship grows, they discover that they would not want to live in a world without each other, so they dream of a place where they can effortlessly be together. However, because of this faithful friendship, they have, George, forces himself to come to terms with the fact that the dream could never become reality with the current status quo and that he and Lennie were inevitably bound to be separated by circumstance. Even though George puts all of his efforts into keeping Lennie in line and their dream alive by forming plans and rules, it is inescapable that the journey does not go as intended. Steinbeck incorporates dreams, loneliness, and friendship into the journey that takes Lennie and George.
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