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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.
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George and Lennie’s partnership gives them a rare shield against the crushing loneliness of the Depression-era itinerant life. Early in the novel George explains how different they are from other ranch hands: “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They don’t belong no place.” Because they travel together they have companionship, someone to talk to, and someone to protect them from that isolation. Lennie’s simple faith in George — “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you” — also gives both men emotional stability they otherwise would lack.
Their relationship also creates practical benefits and a shared hope that keeps them going. Together they can imagine and plan a future — the dream that they will “live on the fatta the lan’” gives them purpose, attracts others (Candy offers his savings to join them), and makes work tolerable because it is done for a common goal. George’s guidance and Lennie’s physical strength make them an effective pair at the ranch: George manages the social navigation and Lennie contributes steady labor. The partnership thus increases their chances of saving money and maintaining employment compared with men who are truly alone.
But the bond that helps them survive is also a source of risk and, ultimately, tragedy. Lennie’s mental disability and inability to control his strength repeatedly put them in danger: his fondness for soft things leads to the death of Curley’s wife, an accident that destroys their dream and forces George into an impossible moral choice. The very closeness that makes them strong also marks them as different and attracts suspicion from others on the ranch; when trouble comes it threatens both men. In the final scene George, knowing there is no other humane option, tells Lennie what he wants to hear and shoots him himself — an act that shows how the responsibilities of their partnership end in sacrifice rather than rescue: “I think I knowed from the very first. I think I never been mad, an’ I ain’ now.”
Their relationship also creates practical benefits and a shared hope that keeps them going. Together they can imagine and plan a future — the dream that they will “live on the fatta the lan’” gives them purpose, attracts others (Candy offers his savings to join them), and makes work tolerable because it is done for a common goal. George’s guidance and Lennie’s physical strength make them an effective pair at the ranch: George manages the social navigation and Lennie contributes steady labor. The partnership thus increases their chances of saving money and maintaining employment compared with men who are truly alone.
But the bond that helps them survive is also a source of risk and, ultimately, tragedy. Lennie’s mental disability and inability to control his strength repeatedly put them in danger: his fondness for soft things leads to the death of Curley’s wife, an accident that destroys their dream and forces George into an impossible moral choice. The very closeness that makes them strong also marks them as different and attracts suspicion from others on the ranch; when trouble comes it threatens both men. In the final scene George, knowing there is no other humane option, tells Lennie what he wants to hear and shoots him himself — an act that shows how the responsibilities of their partnership end in sacrifice rather than rescue: “I think I knowed from the very first. I think I never been mad, an’ I ain’ now.”
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