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Friendship remained a common theme throughout Of Mice and Men and is apparent through several events, dialogue, and affinities between characters.

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Friendship remained a common theme throughout Of Mice and Men and is apparent through several events, dialogue, and affinities between characters.

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While Of Mice and Men explores many different topics, there were many instances within the novel in which the power of friendship was tested or displayed. It is the driving factor in the events that lead up to the climax, and stays on the reader's mind after the novel ends.

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This article by Psychology Today emphasizes how crucial friendships are, and how our relations with other people can either lift or deepen our mood. Similar to how Crooks explained such a statement to Lennie within the novel, having friendships boosts one's overall state of mind and prevents them from succumbing to loneliness.

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We. All. Need. Good. Friends.

The songs "You've Got a Friend" by Carol King, Barbra Streisand's "People...who need people," and Joe Cocker's "With a little help from my friends," express the critical roles good friends play our lives.

Like many of you, some of my oldest close friends have been an important part of my life over decades.

As attested by that old adage, "We choose our friends, not our family," meaning that the personal and positive nature of friendship is voluntary. We are a social species and we need that sense of "Belonging," of feeling deeply appreciated by people we care for. Meaningful, long-term friendships are cherished.

Intimate friends share each other's experiences and in some ways they inhabit each other's lives. They often have similar viewpoints and values, and they may share similar backgrounds and traditions. They witness the milestones and unexpected changes of life, the highs and lows, celebrations and sadness.

People without friends often experience the vulnerability of loneliness, that poignant state which many of us have felt at some point.

Friendships first develop during childhood, when youngsters learn to interact with others. They learn how to agree and disagree, to exchange meaningful words and gestures, to accommodate to others' temperaments, and to make friends. These early skills are foundations for later friendships.

Friends exchange caring, celebration and solace. When people feel blue, they often reach out to old friends for support and counsel. But in times of deep depression, they might avoid human contact, either out of lack of energy or thinking they are unworthy. They withdraw when they are most in need of the support from caring others.

A key finding from a major study of adults' lives was that those who had close, long-term friends fared better than those who were less social. Close friendships enhanced moods and functioning as well as emotional and physical health.

Friendships have to be cultivated and nurtured to be meaningful over years. Social media supposedly enable people to make new friends via sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and myriad others, but unfortunately some of these online friendships are more "virtual" than real. Many of these "cyber-bonds" are often anything but meaningful, and can actually be a way of not engaging deeply with others. In the guise of generating friendships, the Internet can ironically serve to keep people apart. Social media can never replace the authenticity and intimacy of face-to-face interactions.

Good friends are open, genuine and honest with each other. They tolerate each other's frailties, appreciate their differences, and honestly criticize when necessary. Over many years, they participate in each other's celebrations and marriages, and in their children's and grandchildren's milestones. They are there for each other during illnesses and setbacks, and some are left to mourn the losses of their dear old friends, almost as a loss of a part of themselves.

You know that some of the feelings and experiences you shared with friends during good times and sad, are among your most cherished memories.

In Sondheim's beautiful song Old Friends, an old friend says: "Here's to us, who's like us?"

Simply put, good friendships are some of the best stuff of life.

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We. All. Need. Good. Friends. The songs "You've Got a Friend" by Carol King, Barbra Streisand's "People...who need people," and Joe Cocker's "With a little help from my friends," express the critical roles good friends play our lives. Like many of you, some of my oldest close friends have been an important part of my life over decades.

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friends are like a lifeboat
that help you seek safety in the storm
they support you when you walk
when your feet are weary and torn.

there may be much in life to debate
but one thing is always precise;
a friend's kind actions will stay with one forever
and will be remembered for life.

This poem, written by me, was inspired by the friendship dynamics of the main characters in the novel. George, no matter what, never left Lennie's side, even if it cost him greatly in the end.

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"Lennie said, 'I thought you was mad at me, George.' 'No,' said George. 'No, Lennie, I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know.'"

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"Lennie said, 'I thought you was mad at me, George.' 'No,' said George. 'No, Lennie, I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know.'"

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This song talks about the importance of friendship and how two friends can come together and resist any hardships that come their way. I feel as if it heavily relates to the fact that no matter what happened in the story, George and Lennie always stuck together no matter what.

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How does the topic of friendship tie in with one of the novel's themes?

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How does the topic of friendship tie in with one of the novel's themes?

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Even when all else fails, friendship will withstand the erosion of time and emerge as the strongest standing factor.

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This is a painting by Uruguayan artist Petrona Viera titled Friendship. It displays the mutual relationship between people, similar to the friendships between George, Lennie, and Candy within Of Mice and Men.