Of Mice and Men

A persons ability to have total and complete freedom can be limited by the responsibilities he has in his life. Throughout Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, characters struggle to balance their desire for freedom and their responsibilities to others. George has a lot of responsibilities in the novel. He feels he has responsibility to look after Lennie, putting restrictions on Georges life. George at the end, has responsibility because he feels responsible for Lennie and takes care of society by killing Lennie. Without Lennie, George would have many freedoms. George talks about how easy he could live if he did not have Lennie holding him back. “I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want.” (Steinbeck11) George can not have any of these freedoms because he has Lennie with him all the time. Having Lennie around puts many restrctions on Georges life. George has responsibilities of always keeping an eye on Lennie. He has to keep him out of trouble, tell him what to do, and get him a job. Lennie is always messing up and when he does, George feels responsible for it. “I got you! You cant keep a job and you lose ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time and that’s the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.” (Steinbeck 11) Having Lennie by his side, George can not get