Original artwork, not a still
Of Mice and Men · 1937
I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Lennie is the one who says the thesis of the book aloud: they are not alone because each looks after the other. It is a call and response between two men, and it is why the ending lands so hard, because the reader has heard this answer and believed it. It is often quoted on friendship prints and in toasts, rarely with a sense of how sad the scene around it is.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Of Mice and MenShow the scene
Chapter 1 again, the second half of the speech Lennie has heard many times. After George recites the passage about lonely ranch hands, he turns it round: with them it is different, they have a future and somebody who gives a damn. Lennie breaks in with the answer he has learned, asking why that is and replying that each of them has the other to look after. He laughs with delight, and George tells him he has it by heart and can do it himself, but Lennie wants George to carry on.
Sources (1)
- Of Mice and Men (scanned text, Internet Archive)Chapter 1, the riverbank, end of the recited speechReference checked
Context reviewed
