George says several times ‘If I was alone I could live so easy’ Do you think he is right? Essay

It was obvious that George and Lennie were great friends as they always stood by each other and were rarely seen apart. However it was not the perfect friendship, as the book clearly establishes. George is often agitated by Lennie’s childish ways and he states that without Lennie’s company he could have a much better life, ‘I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail’. George constantly has to look out for Lennie and it’s as if he is responsible for two people. We see this early in the book when George says ‘you gonna be sick like you was last night’. George knows deep down that he doesn’t have to do this for Lennie but he continues to care for him as if he was his child. If George lived alone then he would only have to look out for himself and he would not have to be constantly checking Lennie and sorting his problems out. Lennie has the mind of a kid, therefore forcing George to treat him like one. He has to give in to him lots of times and he finds him self comforting him continuously. For example when Lennie cried about the mouse, George had to promise him a new one to get him to stop. This is probably very tiring for George, but he has to do it otherwise Lennie could do something stupid like harming himself. Lennie continually annoys George by being immature and dumb. George often says ‘Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard’. We can see that Lennie frequently drives him to using the lord’s name in vain. George can not always be a happy and cheery man, as he has to be bossy and constantly worrying about Lennie. It can’t be much fun for George to have to watch his every move 24/7. He scarcely has enough time to look after himself. We see this when he has to warn Lennie to stay away from Curley’s wife ‘Don’t you even take a look at that bitch’. I get the impression that George has not had much experience with women, how could he? What with Lennie always being there behind him. This has resulted in him not having a very good attitude towards women and it is a bad fault in his personality. If George was on his own, he could get to know the opposite sex better and maybe find a girlfriend. He definitely would like one as he says ‘I could live so easy, and maybe have a girl’. The worst thing about George always being with Lennie is the amount of trouble he has to get in because of Lennie’s senseless actions. This was first shown when we hear about the girl from Weed, if it weren’t for Lennie the pair would never have had to leave. The interview with the boss was also very risky and George had to use his quick thinking and cleverness to think up things to cover for Lennie. If he were on his own, he would have had no bother and could basically have just strolled on to that ranch. Although Lennie is good company for George and they are close friends, I think that George would be better off without Lennie. It would be a huge weight off his shoulders and he could get on with his own life. Lennie is not his responsibility, and I’m sure if Lennie had sense he would want his best friend to concentrate on their own dreams and goals instead of waiting on him all the time. Lennie is not the type of company that George needs; he is still lonely deep down.