English 9 H
10/29/15
Illustrating Alike Values: Family and Friendship in Literature
Family and friends are similar in many ways, both are built on four main principles. Support, love, trust, and selflessness. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky are both strongly influenced by friendship, where the first book tells the story of an oddly friendship and the second is a boy just discovering what friendship really is. Of Mice and Men as well as The Perks of Being a Wallflower both delineate the constant idea that friendship and family are one in the same.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck uses dialogue to illustrate its ongoing theme of friendship. When Lennie and George are sitting by the fire, Lennie begs George to tell him to tell him their story. This is the story of who they are and where they are going. This is the story of their very peculiar relationship that sets them apart from the rest of the migrant workers. “‘But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you…’” (Steinbeck 25). Even though George jokes about it, and it certainly would be easier, he refuses to leave Lennie. They take care of one another to the best of their abilities throughout all the hard times, showing support, an essential in any realtionship. When Curley is fighting Lennie, he wails on Lennie’s face causing him to bleed. Contradictory to Lennie’s appearance, he is very gentle and does not fight back until absolutely necessary. All while this is happening, Lennie is calling for George to help him. “Make um’ let me alone, George…Make ‘um stop George” (Steinbeck 84). When Lennie is put into a situation where he feels unsafe, he turns to George for protection. His repeated cries for George show that Lennie relies on him to make sure that everything will be taken care of in the end, this is a perfect corroboration of trust, one of the morals described above describing...