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 drift from place to place with no steady company or hope, but George and Lennie stand out because they travel together. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, their unusual partnership gives them advantages other ranch hands lack while also creating serious dangers. The benefits of George and Lennie’s partnership are companionship, mutual protection, and a sustaining shared dream, but the risks are the trouble caused by Lennie’s mental disability and strength and the heavy moral and practical burden George must bear.

George and Lennie’s relationship supplies the companionship and mutual care that stave off the loneliness of their world. George explains the difference between them and other men: “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world… But not us! …because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why” (Steinbeck ch. 1). Their bond also gives them a common hope to hold onto: “We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us” (Steinbeck ch. 1). These passages show that, unlike most drifters, George and Lennie have emotional support and a shared dream that make their hard lives more bearable.

At the same time, their partnership brings serious risks because Lennie’s intellectual limitations and huge physical strength repeatedly put them in danger and force George into painful choices. George himself admits the cost of keeping Lennie: “If I was alone I could live so easy. I could get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble” (Steinbeck ch. 1), acknowledging the restrictions and risks Lennie creates. Those risks become real when others threaten violent retaliation—Curley vows, “I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself” after his hand is crushed (Steinbeck ch. 3)—and when George ultimately must shoulder the moral burden of protecting Lennie even by tragic means; as Slim later says after George’s final act, “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda” (Steinbeck ch. 6). Thus the very closeness that sustains them also makes them vulnerable to external danger and forces heartbreaking decisions.