Of Mice And Men Friendship And Power

Studied for Junior Cycle English exam years 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030.

Of Mice and Men friendship and power belong in one answer, not two. George and Lennie travel together, and nobody else on this ranch does. Their friendship is the only warm thing in the book. It is also the thing with the least power behind it. Nearly every decision about them is made by somebody with more standing. The last one is the exception.

What George and Lennie give each other

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George does the practical work of keeping Lennie alive. He speaks to the boss so Lennie does not have to. He carries both work cards and remembers what Lennie forgets, which is nearly everything. In Chapter 1 he tells Lennie where to hide if there is trouble.

What Lennie gives back is harder to name, and it is why George stays. Lennie listens. He asks for the story of the farm and never tires of it. He gives George a future to say out loud.

The other men find this strange because it is strange. A ranch hand here works a month, takes his fifty dollars and moves on alone. Slim notices the pair on their first evening, and John Steinbeck gives him the line that names it. The boss is suspicious instead. In Chapter 2 he asks what George is getting out of it, and assumes he is taking Lennie’s pay.

Who holds power on the ranch

Power here comes in four forms, and none of them belongs to George.

Position. The boss owns the ranch and arrives in Chapter 2 to ask questions. Curley is his son, and that is the whole of his claim. Candy explains in Chapter 2 that Curley picks on big men because he is small. He can start a fight nobody can finish without losing the job.

Respect. Slim earns his. He is the best worker on the place and the men take his word on any subject. In Chapter 3, once Slim agrees the old dog should be shot, the argument is over.

Taking. Carlson needs no standing at all. In Chapter 3 he decides Candy’s dog smells, keeps asking, then walks out with the dog and his Luger. Candy never agrees.

Whoever is below you. Curley’s wife has no power over the men. They walk away and call her names once she has gone. In Chapter 4 she finds the one person on the ranch below her, and uses everything she has on Crooks.

Of Mice and Men friendship and power: the quotes that prove it

Six short quotes carry this topic. Learn them in pairs, one about the friendship, one about who controls it.

“Ain’t many guys travel around together”
Slim, noticing George and Lennie on their first evening, in Chapter 2.

Your opening evidence. The friendship is odd enough that the most respected man on the ranch remarks on it.

“With us it ain’t like that. We got a future.”
George, telling Lennie why the two of them are different, in Chapter 1.

This is what the friendship is worth to George. He is not describing company, he is describing a future.

“If I tol’ him to walk over a cliff”
George, describing Lennie’s trust to Slim, in Chapter 3.

The power inside the friendship, not only outside it. George holds all of it.

“Candy looked helplessly at him, for Slim’s opinions were law.”
Narrator, as Candy loses the argument about his dog, in Chapter 3.

This is how decisions get made here. Candy is not persuaded. He is outranked.

“Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?”
Carlson, pressing Candy about the old dog, in Chapter 3.

The rule the ranch lives by. Anything that stops being useful is got rid of, Candy and Lennie included.

“I could get you strung up on a tree”
Curley’s wife, threatening Crooks in his room, in Chapter 4.

The woman with no power over the men has all of it over Crooks. That is how far down it reaches.

The last decision, and who makes it

By the end of Chapter 5 the question is not whether Lennie dies. Curley settles that within a minute of finding his wife.

“I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself”
Curley, after finding his wife’s body, in Chapter 5.

George cannot stop this. He has no money, no standing and no argument Curley would hear. What is left to decide is who does it, and how Lennie spends his last minutes. It is the only piece of power George has ever held.

He has already been told what happens when you let somebody else do it.

“I ought to of shot that dog myself, George.”
Candy, regretting the shooting of his dog, in Chapter 3.

George takes Carlson’s Luger. He walks to the pool he named in Chapter 1. He keeps Lennie talking about the rabbits, and does it while Lennie is happy.

“You hadda, George. I swear you hadda.”
Slim, after the shot, in Chapter 6.

Slim’s verdict is the only one on this ranch that counts, and it goes George’s way. That is where Of Mice and Men friendship and power meet. George cannot protect Lennie from Curley, so he takes the killing away from him.

How to use this in an answer

Your studied novel is examined in Section C, Responding Imaginatively, worth 70 marks. Questions there ask about a relationship, a character you admired, or a moment that stayed with you. Of Mice and Men friendship and power gives you material for all three.

Argue one thing: the friendship is real, and it has nothing behind it. Not that it is lovely. Not that it fails. Argue that it is the only bond in the novel with no power to defend itself.

Anchor that in four moments. Slim noticing the pair in Chapter 2. Carlson taking the dog in Chapter 3 while Candy says nothing. Curley’s wife turning on Crooks in Chapter 4. George at the pool in Chapter 6.

At Ordinary Level, two moments in detail beat four rushed ones. Pick the dog and the pool. For CBA2, the Collection of Student Texts, this novel suits a personal piece about a friendship that costs somebody something.

One mistake to avoid

The usual mistake is to mark George as cruel or as kind, then stop. Some answers call the ending a murder. Others call it mercy and leave it there. Both skip the part that earns marks.

The fix is to weigh his options first. There are three. Curley shoots Lennie in a rage. Lennie is locked away somewhere he will never understand. Or George does it himself. Judge the choice against that list. George has no money, no standing and no time. Kind and cruel are the wrong words. Powerless is the accurate one.

Quick recall

1. Why do the other men find George and Lennie strange?

Because ranch hands travel alone. A man works a month, takes his pay and moves on.

2. What does George actually do for Lennie?

He speaks for him, carries his work card, remembers for him, and tells him where to hide if there is trouble.

3. Where does Slim’s power come from?

From skill and respect, not from owning anything. He is the best worker there, so the men take his word.

4. Why does the shooting of Candy’s dog matter so much?

Candy loses something he loves because he has no standing to argue. His regret afterwards is why George acts himself.

5. Why can Curley’s wife threaten Crooks?

She has no power over the men, but she is white and Crooks is black. In Chapter 4 she reminds him of it.

6. Why does George shoot Lennie himself?

Because Curley is coming with a gun and a group of men. George cannot save him. He can only decide who does it.

7. What links the friendship and the power in this novel?

The friendship is the only good thing in the book and the least protected. Every threat to it comes from somebody who outranks George.

Of Mice and Men: Friendship and Power