Question

George and Lennie travel together, unlike many who are out of work during the Great Depression.
What are the benefits and what are the and risks associated with George and Lennie’s partnership?
Write a three paragraph essay in which you will discuss benefits and risks of their relationship and use text evidence to support your ideas.

Intro Paragraph:
* Hook
* Background
*Thesis: The benefits of George and Lennie’s partnership are ____, but the risks are______.

Benefits Paragraph:
*Claim
*Evidence _________ “Quote” (Steinbeck __).
*Commentary

Risks Paragraph:
*Claim
*Evidence_________ “Quote” (Steinbeck __).
*Commentary

Answer 1

During the Great Depression, most itinerant workers drifted alone from ranch to ranch, cut off from family or steady friends; George and Lennie are unusual because they travel together, depending on one another for something more than wages. In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, their companionship and joint dream set them apart and drive much of the plot. The benefits of George and Lennie’s partnership are companionship, mutual protection, and a sustaining shared dream, but the risks are Lennie’s lack of control and social vulnerability, which create danger for both of them and make tragedy more likely.

One clear benefit of their relationship is that it relieves the loneliness that defines so many of the other ranch hands and gives them hope for the future. As George tells Lennie (and the reader), “We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us” (Steinbeck, Chapter 1). This line shows that, unlike the isolated men Steinbeck describes, George and Lennie have emotional connection and a common goal: their dreamed-of farm. That shared dream and the everyday care they give one another—George looks out for Lennie’s needs and Lennie offers simple, steady companionship—give their lives purpose and make them stronger together than they would be alone.

Despite those benefits, the partnership is risky because Lennie’s mental disability and extraordinary physical strength make trouble inevitable, and that danger pulls George inescapably into the consequences. George’s own instructions to Lennie—“If you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush” (Steinbeck, Chapter 1)—admit that past incidents have put them at risk and that George expects more problems. Lennie’s inability to control his impulses leads to accidents (and, eventually, to the fatal crisis late in the novel), and because they act as a unit George must bear responsibility for Lennie’s actions. Thus their mutual dependence both protects them from loneliness and exposes them to dangers they could not face alone.