Mercy Killing - Of Mice And Me

1174 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Foreshadowing of mice and men

Mercy Killing

In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, two men travel together to escape their pasts. They arrive at a ranch in the Salinas Valley with hopes to achieve their ultimate dream; to buy a place to call their own. Lennie, who is a simple-minded man, and George, who is just a typical guy are brought together and make a lasting friendship out of the loneliness of each man. While spending time on the farm George and Lennie meet some friendly characters, but because of some accidental deaths their dreams drift away. Foreshadowing may create a literary theme.

Lennie is a massive and powerful man, but is dull-witted, George on the other hand is scrawnier and not as mighty. Both are hearty individuals just trying to survive a tough life. After Lennie’s Aunt Clara passed away George took the responsibility of looking after Lennie. Through good and bad times George has learned to love and protect him. Lennie, an animal lover at heart always takes pleasure from petting them. He loves all small, soft, fuzzy things and cannot help himself from petting them. During their journey to the new ranch, Lennie catches a mouse, “I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along.'; (Steinbeck:6). George hates it when Lennie catches animals and plays with them “well you ain’t petting no mice while you walk with me.'; (Steinbeck:6) because he knows Lennie could end up killing the tiny animal. Lennie does not know his own strength and handles the mouse too rough “you’ve broke it pettin’ it.'; (Steinbeck:9) After the two men spend the night in the woods, they finish their journey and arrive at the ranch.

Soon after they arrive at the ranch, George and Lennie meet some new and delightful people that they will be living with, until they earn enough money to buy a place of their own. One of the new people that Lennie and George meet was Candy and his old dog. Candy was an old swamper, and was missing one hand, his dog was just like him, very old and in poor shape. The poor old dog was blind, deaf, had no teeth and everyone complained about it smelling horrible, “we can’t sleep with him stinkin’ around in here.'; (Steinbeck:47) All the farm ...

... middle of paper ...

... 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.

Two men brought together through each others loneliness, travel around with hopes to achieve a dream someday, but it begins to go awry when they arrive at the new ranch. Some accidental killings brought George to the stage of having to mercy kill a long time friend to save him the grief of being shot in the gut by Curley. In the 1930’s these people that may have done something wrong by accident did not have a chance to stand up for their actions, but were killed on the spot or taken and hanged. The different killings in the story all foreshadowed the final death of Lennie. This foreshadowing created a literary theme of mercy killing.

Show More
Related

  • Diversity within the Criminal Justice System

    2181 Words  | 5 Pages

    The US Justice Department statistics 2003 and onwards demonstrates significant disproportion in the incarceration rate of minority African American and Hispanic men between the ages of 25 and 29 years as compared to the rate associated with White men of the same age. Bell (2007), proposes that as minority groups grow in numbers within the dominant group they will experience greater equality. However, rate of incarceration among minority males remains alarmingly high and as compared to their White counterparts. As with health care there are racial disparities that will influence outcomes when an individual is brought before the criminal courts. Additionally, there is significant correlation between a person’s level of education and the likelihood of his involvement in criminal activities. Studies and statistics have shown that among male high school dropouts there is high incidence of unemployment, low income and rate of illicit drug use as compared to men with degrees from four year colleges. Further to this, although the rate of school dropout and even arrest is not significantly different across the race lines, literature alludes that African American men have a higher rate of conviction for the same crime committed.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Prison

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    The majority of our prison population is made up of African Americans of low social and economic classes, who come from low income houses and have low levels of education. The chapter also discusses the amount of money the United States loses yearly due to white collar crime as compared to the cost of violent crime. Another main point was the factors that make it more likely for a poor person to be incarcerated, such as the difficulty they would have in accessing adequate legal counsel and their inability to pay bail. This chapter addresses the inequality of sentencing in regards to race, it supplies us with NCVS data that shows less than one-fourth of assailants are perceived as black even though they are arrested at a much higher rate. In addition to African Americans being more likely to be charged with a crime, they are also more likely to receive harsher punishments for the same crimes- which can be seen in the crack/cocaine disparities. These harsher punishments are also shown in the higher rates of African Americans sentenced to

    Read More

  • Mass Incarceration as a Modern Racial Caste System

    1886 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the wake of President Obama’s election, the United States seems to be progressing towards a post-racial society. However, the rates of mass incarceration of black males in America deem this to be otherwise. Understanding mass incarceration as a modern racial caste system will reveal the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy America. The history of social control in the United States dates back to the first racial caste systems: slavery and the Jim Crow Laws. Although these caste systems were outlawed by the 13th amendment and Civil Rights Act respectively, they are given new life and tailored to the needs of the time.In other words, racial caste in America has not ended but has merely been redesigned in the shape of mass incarceration. Once again, the fact that more than half of the young black men in many large American cities are under the control of the criminal justice system show evidence of a new racial caste system at work. The structure of the criminal justice system brings a disproportionate number of young black males into prisons, relegating them to a permanent second-class status, and ensuring there chances of freedom are slim. Even when minorities are released from prisons, they are discriminated against and most usually end up back in prisons . The role of race in criminal justice system is set up to discriminate, arrest, and imprison a mass number of minority men. From stopping, searching, and arresting, to plea bargaining and sentencing it is apparent that in every phases of the criminal justice system race plays a huge factor. Race and structure of Criminal Justice System, also, inhibit the integration of ex offenders into society and instead of freedom, relea...

    Read More

  • Of Mice And Men

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck brings out the themes of Lonliness and companionship, and strengths and weaknesses through the actions, and quotations of the characters. Irony and foreshadowing play a large roll on how the story ends. Lennie and his habit of killing things not on purpose, but he is a victim of his own strength. George trying to pretend that his feelings for Lennie mean nothing. The entire novel is repetitive in themes and expressed views.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Death In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie shows how his great strength brings harm to him when he kills. George wanted Lennie to be at peace and thinking of good things when he met the end of his life instead of being afraid of being killed by people who did not understand him. It was an act of unselfish kindness at a time when people of mental illness such as Lennie, was seen as undesirable, and often monsters. Does George have the right to kill Lennie? Legally? What about ethically? What does George's action suggest about justice within the play and in the world as a

    Read More

  • Of Mice And Men

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    The daily struggle of the working class, fear of loneliness and the reality of putting all your energy into plans that fail are the different themes relating to John Steinbeck's novel, "Of Mice and Men". The characters depicted by the author are individuals who are constantly facing one obstacle after another. The book illustrates different conflicts such as man versus society, man versus man, man versus himself and idealism versus reality. The book's backdrop is set in the Salinas, California during the depression. The two main characters include two men, George and Lennie. Supportive characters include a few ranch hands, Candy, Crooks, Curly, Slim and Carlson.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Racial Disparity In The Criminal Justice System

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Years after the United States civil rights movement, the removal of formal segregation laws, and implementation of anti-racist policies, the American criminal justice system still fails to display the same reform. As one of the largest superpowers and industrialized nations in the world, the United States has not attained a “post-racial status,” defined as being a society in which race, although it remains a concept, does not influence individuals. The failure of the United States to attain “post-racial status” is exemplified in the criminal justice system by overwhelming evidence of disproportionate levels of crime, arrests, and incarceration that primarily affect minority populations. Past and present patterns of American society dealing with crime and the people involved committing crime show extreme racial disparity in terms of individuals’ predisposed environments that increase ones likelihood of being involved in the criminal justice system, the system itself that processes individuals, the encouragement of mass incarceration by mainstream society, and the effects these processes have on society.

    Read More

  • Racial Inequalities in the Justice System

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to statistics since the early 1970’s there has been a 500% increase in the number of people being incarcerated with an average total of 2.2 million people behind bars. The increase in rate of people being incarcerated has also brought about an increasingly disproportionate racial composition. The jails and prisons have a high rate of African Americans incarcerated with an average of 900,000 out of the 2.2 million incarcerateed being African American. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 1 in 6 African American males has been incarcerated at some point in time as of the year 2001. In theory if this trend continues it is estimated that about 1 in 3 black males being born can be expected to spend time in prison and some point in his life. One in nine African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 are currently incarcerated. Although the rate of imprisonment for women is considerably lower than males African American women are incarc...

    Read More

  • Measures In Nursing Essay

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    The physical conditions, the amount of payment, the facilities available, adequacy or inadequacy of ventilation, lighting, tools, space, and other such environmental characteristics (Herzberg et al., 1993).

    Read More

  • Essay On How George And Lennie Make Each Other

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    “You crazy fool. Don’t you think I could see your feet was wet where you went acrost the river to get it?” He heard Lennie’s whimpering cry and wheeled about. “Blubbering’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you.” Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes. “Aw, Lennie!” George put his hand on Lennie’s shoulder. “I ain’t takin’ it away jus’ for meanness. That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie; and besides, you’ve broke it pettin’ it. You get another mouse that’s fresh and I’ll let you keep it a little while.” (Steinbeck

    Read More

  • Lennie Smalls: A Man With No Chance

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    With his disability, he needs something to feel connected to. He loves to pet furry and soft things. In chapter one in “Of Mice and Men”, Lennie and George are walking along a dirt road, on there way to a ranch. George discovers Lennie playing with something in his pocket. Lennie states to George before the dead mouse was taken away. ““ I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along”” (Steinbeck 6) . In order to prove that Lennie is not smart enough to fulfill the American Dream, Steinbeck creates Lennie to seem as not normal as possible. Steinbeck places Lennie in a state, where he does not understand right from wrong. He does not know nor understand, that playing with a deceased critter is not only gross but unacceptable as a

    Read More

  • American Prisons and Trends Displayed by the Minority Inmate Population

    1704 Words  | 4 Pages

    American prisons exhibit a trend of disparity of the minority inmate population. Disparity occurs most in the minority population due to high crime rates within their communities mainly because of social isolation and the way the judicial system operates. Why is it that minorities are most likely to be incarcerated? Is it because of the lack of education, poverty, social and economic isolation or is it because of racial profiling? Racial disparity in the criminal justice system is widespread and it threatens to challenge the fact that our judicial system is fair and effective.

    Read More

  • Lennie's Passion for Soft Objects in Of Mice and Men

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lennie's Passion for Soft Objects in Of Mice and Men Works Cited Missing Definition of the word trace: follow, hint, and mark out. In this essay I will trace in detail soft things that Lennie pets in the novel, showing that the petting grows more serious as the novel goes on. In the novel Lennie pets mice, he dreams about petting rabbits, destroys someone's dress in Weed, hurts Curly's hand, kills a pup, and kills Curley's wife. Bad things come in threes, Lennie's two accidental killings of animals foreshadow the final killing of

    Read More

  • Death And Afterlife In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    This story teaches that death is an unavoidable and inevitable circumstance of mortal life, which is the most significant precept Gilgamesh learns. Gilgamesh is resentful that only the gods can exist eternally. Gilgamesh is frightened by the idea of his own destiny. Mesopotamian divinity proposes a perception of an afterlife; the deceased spend their period being dead in a netherworld. Death is inevitably entwined within the structure of creation. Life is also entwined, although mortals die, humanity maintains to live. The message that Gilgamesh returns with from his adventure is not primarily about death, but about life. Fragment of a tablet of The Epic of Gilgamesh is figure C down

    Read More

  • Interior Design

    2029 Words  | 5 Pages

    “When it comes to interior design styles, give yourself the permission to think outside the box. There are so many wonderful ways to define who you are by creating a magnificent living space. Allow yourself to be creative. Be stylish. And when I say outside the box, I don’t necessarily mean go crazy, I simply suggest you take some steps to create the type of home that you really want or that your client is asking you to create” (Yule 1). Looking into interior design there are many elements that contribute to the way people view the room or area, such as the color, flooring, furniture, fabrics, and accessories in every room. Within the following research paper, interior design will be discussed by the interior design styles, the effects of color, and the trends of bathrooms.

    Read More

More about Mercy Killing - Of Mice And Me

Open Document