What were you thinking when you killed innocent Lennie? Some people believe that the killing of Lennie was like the killing of his puppy. Others feel it was comparable to the killing of Candy’s dog. Lennie, like his dog, was innocent and unaware of the cruel world around him. However, Lennie, with his physical strength, also killed many innocent beings, including a weak and innocent puppy and, killed a human being. In contradiction, Carlson killed Candy’s dog in an act of compassion to relieve an old and suffering animal. Did Lennie then become like Candy’s dog and killed by you in an act of kindness and compassion? There is debate weather or not your decision to end the life of your best friend was valid. As a reader your actions were portrayed as an act of courage. The decision to put Lennie to rest in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was a courageous act because it enabled Lennie to be freed from the cruel world in which he lived and to live in the make believe world that he and you had dreamed of. Killing Lennie also saved you from another situation like the one in Weed; however, is Lennie’s death also the death of your dream? To begin, the death of Lennie allowed him to be freed from the cruel world in which he lived and to live in the make believe world that he and you had dreamed of. Lennie could sense danger when he arrived at the ranch; he said "Le’s go, George. Le’s get outta here. It’s mean here." (Steinbeck 33). Many characters throughout the novel antagonized Lennie; Curley tried starting trouble when he thought Lennie was laughing at him. When you were at the Cat House, Lennie met with Crooks and Curley’s wife. Crooks told Lennie that you weren’t going to come back. In the novel it states “Crook’s face lig... ... middle of paper ... ...dly, your killing of your friend was an act of compassion for your friend, but ultimately may have been a death for yourself. The death of your best friend allowed him to be freed from the cruel world in which he lived and to live in the make believe world that he and you had dreamed of. Killing Lennie also saved you from another situation like the one in Weed; however, the death of Lennie was also the death of your dream. You lost more then a friend when you lost Lennie, you lost your dream of living a better life. However, perhaps Slim, in his wisdom, will guide you to live out your dream. Don’t let Lennie’s death stop you from fulfilling your dream from owning a farm. Perhaps, one day when you are sitting quietly along a long and narrow pool of water, you will reach down to drink the cool water and see a soft white bunny hopping in the gentle, rolling hills.
As we journey through life, we must make difficult decisions, even when few options exist and the situation is grim. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the decision George faces after Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife is complicated, as none of his choices are good. The importance of his relationship with Lennie forces George to look at the big picture and act in Lennie’s best interests, even though the action he must finally take will result in a weight that he will carry forever.
Why would you kill your best friend that has been with you through thick and thin? Lennie Small was killed by George Milton at the end of the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. “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” (Steinbeck 13-14). That quote basically describes Lennie and George's relationship to each other. Murder is something done with anger and to end a person’s life that should have not been ended. George had all the aspects of a murderer, he basically planned the murder of Lennie Small. George was not even accused for killing Lennie, everyone was happy and that is not right. Also George should have let Lennie escape to the cave and let Lennie live freely. Being said, George in all right, should be considered a murderer and not a savior.
That ain’t no good, George.’”(Steinbeck 97). Because Lennie killed Curley’s wife, he committed a felony. George wanted Lennie to be thrown in jail at first. He wanted Lennie to be arrested because he thought it was the best thing for Lennie but then Slim told him it would not be good for Lennie. It would be bad for Lennie because Lennie would not understand his rights because he’s mentally challenged and locking him up in a cage would just hurt Lennie. George then realized he needed to kill Lennie so nobody would mistreat him. George is protecting others from Lennie.”’Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before…’”(Steinbeck 15). George has been with Lennie for many years and he knows how Lennie will never learn and he will keep committing bad stuff. George knew something was going to happen at the ranch because Lennie has always done something wrong. George tried to prevent something from going wrong but he couldn’t. As a result he had to put down Lennie so he would not hurt anyone ever again. George felt the hard choice of killing Lennie was the right decision for George because Curley wanted to get his revenge, Lennie would be mistreated in prison and he was
For several years you have been taking care of your grandma, who has been suffering in the hospital. You pray that she gets better. But day after day, you see the hurt in her eyes even though she tries to fight through it. You know that she won’t get better until you put her out of her misery and end her life. But once you know she is gone you will miss her deeply but it will be better for her and all her pain will go away. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one of the important characters, George, faces a similar struggling situation with his best friend Lennie. Lennie murders the wife of another important character, Curley. George has to make an important decision that will affect the rest of both
One week after Lennie's death, George sits in the dark corner of a bar. The room is all but empty and dead silent. All the windows are shut, through the small openings come beams of dull light that barely illuminate the room. George stares at his glass with an expressionless face, but a heavy sadness in his eyes. The bartender comes towards him and asks if he would like something else to drink.
1.) After lots of thinking, I have decided that George did not do the right thing by shooting Lennie. From an article written about euthanasia, it says, “ Taking someone’s life and calling it ‘merciful’ does not change the fact that you are taking someone’s life” (Fiano). This quote shows that Fiano would agree that George had made the wrong decision by shooting Lennie. Why would it be okay for someone to decide for others if they get to live or not? In comparison to Of Mice and Men, when George shoots Lennie, he does it very painless and quick. But before Lennie dies, he is trying to tell George about their American Dream. During the scene, Lennie says, “ Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now” (Steinbeck
One thing Lennie’s death affected was George and Candy’s (a ranch worker) dream. They also wanted the ranch, but when Lennie died the dream became impossible. They needed Lennie’s income also the dream was mostly Lennie's and George couldn’t go through with it without Lennie. The killer was also affected. George was heartbroken, he had to shoot his best friend to keep him from being tortured. He loved Lennie like a brother and had to be the one to end his life as peacefully as possible. There were a lot of mixed reactions. Slim (a ranch worker) tried comforting George, but that wasn’t helping. Carlson and Whit (a ranch worker) did not really care. Curley was excited and happy that Lennie was dead because he was going to kill Lennie himself. Slim was very caring and understanding because he was like a father figure to all the guys on the ranch. Lennie’s actions caused his murder, but if affected others in different
She tries to talk to the other men but she is then seen as "jail bait" and avoided, making her even lonelier. Her dream of being an actress has failed because she chose a quick way out and married Curley. She is now living in her failure and has no longer a dream to aim for. Perhaps the most important part of the story is the the part in which Lennie has accidentally killed the puppy given to him by Slim, and is grieving over him in the barn, “This ain’t no bad thing like I got to go hide in the brush.
... killing the only friend he had and was someone who he had promised to protect, but he still believed he had to do this. Lennie did not have a chance to stand up for what he had done, society in the 1930’s was different from us today. People did not receive the chance to stand up for what they did and receive the actions of punishment, they would just be shot on the spot or taken and hung. This was the major mercy killing in the book and was foreshadowed by each of the other killings Lennie committed.
As George tells Lennie about their dream farm, he prepares himself to kill Lennie. George tells Lennie, “Take off your hat, Lennie. The air feels fine” (104). George knows he has to kill Lennie soon but he wants Lennie to be in a happy place when he dies. He does not want Lennie to be scared and to die slowly and cruelly as he would with the men of the ranch; with George, Lennie’s death would be fast and painless. George begins to hear the footsteps of the other men. To prevent the men from killing Lennie, George decides he has to kill Lennie himself. The scene is almost parallel to when Carlson shot Candy’s dog and Candy regretted that he did not kill his dog himself, but allowed a complete stranger to do it. As George talks to Lennie about the dream farm, “...[George] raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head...He pulled the trigger...Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering” (106). Unlike Buddha’s saying, “No one saves us but ourselves No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path”, George saves Lennie when he kills him. He saves Lennie from being killed by strangers, such as Curley, and being put into jail and abused. The men from the farm finally find George and notice Lennie lay lifeless on the ground. Curley sees Lennie dead, but does not understand why George is so upset. Curley says, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” (107). Unlike Buddha’s saying, “No one saves us but ourselves No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path”, In the film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Chief Bromden suffocates his good friend and mentor, R.P. McMurphy, after he gets a lobotomy and becomes a human vegetable. The Chief admires McMurphy, but
Lennie accidentally killing all of his pets establishes that the theme of this novel is death and loss. These pets consist of mice, dogs, kittens, etc. Lennie loves to feel and pet animals, but he does not know his own strength. He kills them without really noticing what he has done, until George tells him that he did something wrong. After being scolded, Lennie is very remorseful about what he did. Once, after being yelled at Lennie says, “I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead- because they were so little (13).” Lennie’s remorse is probably more for upsetting George than it is for actually killing the animal.
“I killed my best friend,” was the exact thought that hovered in George as he watched his best friend, Lennie, recumbent, cold, and still, on the grass by the riverbanks. In the book of Mice and Men, George faced the dilemma of knowing that he had killed the one he loved the most. Though it was no accident, it was for the good of Lennie. If Lennie had been allowed to live, he would only face the worst of what life has to offer. So instead of having to watch his best friend in pain, George took the initiative to end all of the cruelty of the world and send Lennie to a better place. Therefore, George was justified in killing Lennie.
When Lennie died, he was thinking about the dream. This made Lennie happy because he was "gonna tend the rabbits". That means his last thoughts before he died were happy ones of a farm, a little shack and rabbits eating the alfalfa. If Lennie didn't shoot George and Curley did, George would be thinking about how he killed Curley's wife and that Curley was really mad at him. That thought wouldn't make Lennie happy and Lennie knew that so he shoot him.
Curley's wife, an accident that seals his own fate and destroys not only his dreams but George's and Candy's as well. In the beginning Lennie used to pet mice that his Aunt Clara used to give him, he would always end up killing them because he didn't know his own strength. Lennie never killed any pet or person purposely; he pets too roughly and kills them accidentally. An example of his rough tendencies is in the first chapter (page7) when Lennie wants to keep a dead mouse and George wouldn't let him Lennie says" Uh-uh. Jus' a dead mouse, George.
"Were born alone we live alone die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that were not alone” Orson Welles. In this novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck focuses on the loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930’s. One of the most important things in the life is to have a friend, without friends people will suffer from loneliness like in this novel, not everyone in the novel has the same connection and special friendship like George and Lennie’s. Of Mice and Men is the story about lonely men who travel from ranch to ranch not really communicating with other ranch hands. Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife all were lonely and dealt with their loneliness in different ways.