Chapter 1, Of Mice & Men
George lay back on the sand and crossed his hands under his head, and Lennie imitated him, raising his head to see whether he were doing it right. “God, you’re a lot of trouble,” said George. “I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.”
This is totally not how I think George really feels. I mean yes, Lennie is forgetful and a pain to recite things to over & over again, but lets face it; George needs him. He takes a lot in from Lennie’s company. I think that if George didn’t have someone like Lennie, (or a traveling buddy of some kind) he wouldn’t be who he is, he wouldn’t have anyone to nag on and tell what to do. If Lennie was gone, George would be lost and alone.
“I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me…I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it.”
This reminds me of an abusive relationship. George is so mean to Lennie, but Lennie just comes right back to him like a sad puppy. Why is it that people stay in abusive relationships so long? I guess with Lennie’s case he has no choice really. I think Lennie would probably die or be killed if he went wandering off on his own. He might actually kill something bigger than a field mouse too. What do you think would happen? Maybe he would wander down the road until someone picked him up.
“With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”
This right here is proof of my first statement. George switches from “not being able to stand Lennie”, to telling him that they have a future together and that he likes his company. He basically just said that they would be alright because they care about each other! That includes George caring about Lennie! I told you.
“Go on, George! Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that, George.”[”Why don’t you do it yourself? You know all of it.”] “No….you tell it. It ain’t the same if I tell it. Go on George. How i get to tend the rabbits.”
This is completely adorable. Do you see how big George’s role in Lennie’s life is? Len loves the guy! Its adorable how he loves George so much that one of the few things he actually remembers is his stories. Does the strength of emotional connections tie into how much people with short-term memory loss remember? That’s a good thing if that’s true, because if any memories are worth remembering more than others, they are the ones we love the most.
