IntroductionThis is a short story written by John Steinbeck in 1937, about two men living during the Depression. They were migrant workers, who wanted to buy a farm. ()Friendship Ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died, George has had to take care of him because Lennie can't take care of himself (Steinbeck). Lennie accidentally scared a girl and he and George had to leave Weed and had to look for a new job (Attell). George gets angry at Lennie for accidentally getting them into trouble and says he should leave and how much easier his life would be without Lennie (Hart). She then tells Lennie that she didn't mean what she said and that she wouldn't leave him (Hart). Lennie offers to go somewhere else if that was what George wanted, but George lets Lennie stay with him (Steinbeck). Lennie says he will go live somewhere else and take care of himself, but George doesn't want that (Steinbeck). While cooking the beans, Lennie says that George can have as many beans as he wants and that he was only joking that he wanted ketchup to go on the beans (Steinbeck). George says that people like him and Lennie are lonely, about Lennie he says that he and George are not alone because they have to take care of each other (Attell). Before George and Lennie are interviewed for their new job, George tells Lennie to shut up so he doesn't accidentally screw up and get the job (Steinbeck 3). Lennie remembers for the first part, but then forgets and George has to explain why he answers for Lennie, saying that he is Lennie's cousin who has been taking care of him since his aunt died, and why Lennie is the way he is because he was kicked in the head by a horse when he was a child (Steinbeck 11). Later, after the interview, Lennie asks if what George said was true. Ge......middle of paper...." Ethics, Literature, and Theory: An Introductory Reader. Ed. Stephen K. George. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005. 315 -327. In Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 160. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literary Resources from Warren G. New York: Twayne Publishers, 69-74. Literary resources from Gale Web, May 21, 2014. Reith, Duncan. American novelist John Steinbeck has sometimes been criticized as sentimental. Duncan Reith reveals the dark political pessimism behind his novel about ranch life during the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men. " The English Review 15.2 (2004): 6+. Literary resources from Gale. Web. 21 May 2014.