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Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies Analysis

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danskeLaura Valentiner-Bohse ‘An exploration of friendship in Lord of the Flies and of Mice and Men’ In both Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck evident components of friendship are persuaded throughout the storyline, particularly in Lennie and George’s friendship in Of Mice and Men and Ralph and Piggy’s friendship in Lord of the Flies. In both books the authors focus on the natural dependence human beings have on each other. Of particular importance is the bond the characters share being outsiders, the dependence they have on one another, the respect they share, the theme of survival, the sacrifice that comes with love and the contrast in their personalities. The two books show the unique …show more content…

In Of Mice and Men the respect is more one-sided as Lennie psychologically is not up to George’s level of thinking therefore resulting in George having to take care of Lennie. ‘Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right’. The fact that Lennie does this mimicry when it is just George and himself shows that he truly admires George. At the same time George is aware of Lennie’s physical capabilities and he states that Lennie is ‘strong as a bull’ Lennie physically has the capability to do hard labour, which benefits George when travelling from job to job thus gives him so level of respect for Lennie. Throughout the two books different and varying kinds of love are shown between the characters and with love comes sacrifice. In both books readers observe the characters take great measures for their companion these acts being genuine and selfless as they can be. In Lord of the Flies although Ralph’s behaviour towards Piggy may be perceived as being quite blunt, Ralph proves his sincere respect and love for piggy when he marches over to Jack and demands Piggy’s glasses back. This shows that Ralph is willing to put himself in danger in order to get his friends glasses back, which is an act of kindness and of love. In of Mice and Men George and Lennie demonstrates a

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