Decisions Essay
Matt Wallace
Mrs. Madrid
English 1
13 October 2014
Decisions
In life, there are hard decisions you have to make, and sometimes, the decisions you make are controversial, like the decisions George has to make about Lennie in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Even before the story starts, George has to make hard decisions, such as forcing Lennie to leave Weed to keep him out of trouble. Steinbeck shows the important decisions made in friendship through George’s character. George is committed to Lennie, even though he may be troublesome sometimes and may not benefit George, but George is still committed to him.
At first, when George is asked to take care of Lennie, he is skeptical, but then, after a while of getting used to Lennie, he accepts the responsibility and commits to caring for Lennie. This can happen to all of us, first when someone asks you to do something, you are kind of skeptical and it is a little awkward, but after a while, you get used to it. This is shown when George says “One day a bunch of guys was standin’ around up on the Sacramento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more.” (21). In this quote, it shows that George doesn’t quite accept his responsibility for taking care of Lennie yet. He still thinks of Lennie as someone holding him back and someone that doesn’t really matter. After doing that to Lennie, George got used to Lennie and started accepting his responsibility to make the right decisions for Lennie.
When George and Lennie arrive at the ranch and they are talking to the boss, the boss accuses George of possibly trying to take Lennie’s pay. The boss says to George “… what stake you got in this guy? You takin’ his pay away from him?” (22). The boss thinks George is taking advantage of
Mrs. Madrid
English 1
13 October 2014
Decisions
In life, there are hard decisions you have to make, and sometimes, the decisions you make are controversial, like the decisions George has to make about Lennie in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Even before the story starts, George has to make hard decisions, such as forcing Lennie to leave Weed to keep him out of trouble. Steinbeck shows the important decisions made in friendship through George’s character. George is committed to Lennie, even though he may be troublesome sometimes and may not benefit George, but George is still committed to him.
At first, when George is asked to take care of Lennie, he is skeptical, but then, after a while of getting used to Lennie, he accepts the responsibility and commits to caring for Lennie. This can happen to all of us, first when someone asks you to do something, you are kind of skeptical and it is a little awkward, but after a while, you get used to it. This is shown when George says “One day a bunch of guys was standin’ around up on the Sacramento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him. An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more.” (21). In this quote, it shows that George doesn’t quite accept his responsibility for taking care of Lennie yet. He still thinks of Lennie as someone holding him back and someone that doesn’t really matter. After doing that to Lennie, George got used to Lennie and started accepting his responsibility to make the right decisions for Lennie.
When George and Lennie arrive at the ranch and they are talking to the boss, the boss accuses George of possibly trying to take Lennie’s pay. The boss says to George “… what stake you got in this guy? You takin’ his pay away from him?” (22). The boss thinks George is taking advantage of