In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie
are peas in a pod, two sides of the same coin, too sides of a man's brain. They are
foils of each other: one big, one small; one naive, the other experienced; one a child,
the other a parent. To use Freud's terms, George is the Superego (the social, moral
side), Lennie is the Id (the hidden desire side). As such, they are
inseparable.
Both have a strong work ethic, are good
workers (though Lennie is better), and are believers in the American dream. George
defines them in the first person plural: "we" and "us." They are team; their dreams are
shared:
"Guys
like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in
the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place....With
us it ain't like that. We got
a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn
about us." Chapter 1, pp.
13-14
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