Of Mice And Men Themes

In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men there are a lot of themes. The themes consist of friendship, loneliness, discrimination and dreams. All of these themes are important, and play immense role in the outcome at the end. The major theme is that friends stick together; unconditionally; this is demonstrated through Lennie and George’s actions in Weed, in the bunk house, and in the aftermath of Curly’s wife’s death.

One example of true friends sticking together is exemplified when George stays with Lennie after Lennie’s actions in Weed. George said “An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you did in Weed (7).” This suggests George really cares about Lennie, and he doesn’t want him to do anything that will get him in trouble. George said “we run, they was looking for us, but they didn’t catch us (7).” This example shows George really cares about Lennie because if they were too get caught he would have also gotten in trouble for helping him escape. Slim asked if Lennie had hurt the girl at all George said, “Hell no, he just scared her I’d be scared too if he grabbed me. But he never hurt her. He jus’ wanted to touch that red dress, like he wants to pet them pups all time (42).” This suggests George is protecting Lennie, and his actions. This statement also implies, even though George yells at Lennie for his actions he knows Lennie does not do it on purpose, and it is not his fault. Another example is when George said, “The guys at Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. So we sit in an irrigation ditch underwater all the rest of that day. An’ that night we scrammed out there (42).” This example suggests George really cared about Lennie, he cares so much that he lays in a ditch with his face out only for almost a day. All of these examples show friends sticking together, through hard times.

Another example of true friends sticking together is exemplified when George supports Lennie with his action in the bunk house. An example is when George said “Oh! I ain’t saying he’s bright. He ain’t. But I say he’s a God damn good worker. He can put up a four hundred pound bale (22).” This suggests George wants Lennie to get the job and to stay with him. George knows Lennie doesn’t apprehend a lot of information and ends up doing the wrong thing. Another example is when the boss said, “Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I like to know what your interest is (22).” This implies George really cares about Lennie, and other people recognize the trouble he is taking. When Curly slugged Lennie in his face and Lennie doesn’t do anything so, George said “Get him Lennie, Don’t let him do it.” When Lennie took Curly’s hand away from his face and looked about for George. Curly had slashed at Lennie’s eye and his face was covered with blood. George yelled at Lennie “I said get him (63).” Both of these examples suggest George doesn’t want Lennie to get beat up and he rather get in trouble and lose his job. All of this examples indicate the friendship of Lennie and George is unconditional.

The last example of true friends sticking together is demonstrated with George’s actions and Lennie’s thoughts after the death of Curly’s wife. Lennie doesn’t understand everything and forgets everything. After killing Curly’s wife, Lennie thinks about George, and how he will feel.

Lennie said “George gonna give me hell” “George gonna wish he was alone an’ not have me botherin’ him (100).” This shows Lennie cares about George and understands George does a lot for him. Another example is, when Lennie said to himself “I can go right off there an’ find a cave” he says and continued sadly “-an never have no ketchup but I won’t care. If George don’t want me I’ll go away. I’ll go away (100).” George kills Lennie so he could die peacefully and not be tortured before he was killed. When they asked George where he think Lennie might have gone George said “He would of went south” “We come from the north so he would have went south (97).” George lied to protect Lennie even though he did know where Lennie went and he also knew if they found out George had lied he would have been in a lot of trouble. Curly had said “I’am gonna shoot the guts outa the big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand I’m gonna ‘im (98).” If George had not shot Lennie, Curly would have tortured him before he killed him. But George killed Lennie while he was enjoying the story George was telling him. Therefore, there was unconditional friendship exhibited after the death of Curly’s wife.

The theme of true friends sticking together sticking together unconditionally is illustrated through the actions of George and Lennie in Weed, the bunk house and after the death of Curly’s wife. True friends sticks with you no matter what, this is exactly what George did, and it is an important theme of the novel. Theme is the ideas a novel focuses on, Of Mice and Men has a lot of themes that make it the story it is. Generally, theme is an important part of a novel to make the story progress.