At the end of the story, Of Mice and Men, George faces a large dilemma. Lennie has gotten himself into trouble again, and George must decide what to do. If he takes Lennie to the sheriff, he will be locked up in a cage, but if he doesn’t, Curley is sure to shoot him. That is when George decides to take it upon himself to kill Lennie, even though he is his friend. The choice George made was the best option that he was given. Although it must have been extremely hard for him, he thought back to what Candy had said about shooting his own dog instead of letting someone else do it. In a way, Lennie was the dog, and George was the master. Lennie would do anything George told him and he followed him everywhere. When Lennie kills Curley’s wife, he realizes that he must put Lennie out of his misery so as to not make the same mistake as Candy. …show more content…
All of this had added up and helped George justify his choice in shooting Lennie. He realized Lennie would never change, and although he didn’t mean to, he would always keep messing up their opportunities. It was also the only valid option he could choose for his friend. To have him locked up forever would eat away at George until there was nothing left, and to let Curley shoot him would fill him with guilt as he saw that it should have been him to do it. George also wanted Lennie to go out peacefully and without a clue what was happening. George knew that if he stood aside to let someone else carry out justice on Lennie, or let him see George with the gun, he would never forgive
Killing someone is never right. No one pointed a single finger to George for killing Lennie. They all thought it was ok since Lennie killed Curley’s wife, it is not ok to kill a person. All of them went out to drink after Lennie was dead. George did not even care, Lennie trusted George with everything. Lennie would probably be arrested for killing Curley’s wife, but he did not deserve to be killed. Lennie was a special person, he did not know his own strength. He never meant to kill Curley’s wife. George knew that but decided to kill Lennie anyways. That is not the definition of a true friend. No one accused George of anything, but instead were happy that Lennie ended up being
This shows throughout the book with the many different mistakes Lennie makes. Lennie starts off by killing mice, then he kills a puppy and finally a woman! After Lennie kills Curley’s wife George responds by saying “I should of knew… I guess maybe way back of my head I did.”(Steinbeck 94). George knew it was gonna come to this and he probably also had a feeling Lennie was going to continue to kill more people or animals. Plus, when the character in the book; Candy asks who did it, George says “Ain’t you got anr idea?”(Steinbeck 94). That shows that George knew he was gonna have to do something about Lennie. George was going to have to do something about Lennie sometime, and after George killed a woman he knew there would be no other choice that to kill Lennie through non voluntary
George felt though an extremely difficult choice, killing Lennie himself was the right decision. Curley was gonna get his revenge and George did not want that because he did not want Lennie to die painfully. “‘I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts.’”(Steinbeck 96). When Lennie killed Curley’s wife, Curley wanted to give him the most painful death. Curley wanted to shoot Lennie in the stomach which wouldn’t kill you at first, Instead you would bleed out slowly and painfully. George didn’t want Lennie to suffer so he knew he had to get to Lennie before Curley did and kill Lennie the fastest and least painful death he could which he did. Lennie would be arrested and thrown in jail for
Although Lennie was unattractive and has the tendency of accidental violence, compassion was still something readers had for him. Steinbeck constantly reminded us that he has a mental disability which automatically makes someone feel pity for him. Additionally he was ignored and made fun of by other characters, “Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you”(Steinbeck 10). Him getting in trouble was beyond his control because of his mental disability which is something else that makes a reader feel sympathetic for him. Also, the readers are solicitous towards Lennie because of how much he looks up to George. This is portrayed when Crooks asks Lennie what he would do if George never came back, “Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?”(Steinbeck 70). Because of his inability to comprehend information, he got extremely defensive and said, “George is careful. He won’t get hurt” (Steinbeck 70). This scene is crafted in such a way that it automatically
George realizes in the end of the book Lennie has done too much harm and needs to essentially go away. George then shoots Lennie in the back of the head because Lennie couldn't live on his own if he were to run away from Curly and the rest of the gang of workers coming after him. George did the right thing
George kills Lennie because he did not want to witness Lennie being hurt or killed carelessly, run off by in his own and not being able to take care for himself, and Lennie’s mental disorder will never change how Lennie reacts to certain situations. Many believe taking the life of another without consent is unacceptable but in certain situations like George’s, he has to decide due to Lennie’s mental disorder that was leading him into unpleasant situations. George is an admirable character who choose to protect and do justice to his distressed friend,
Lennie is depicted in a very childlike manner throughout Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Accordingly, he acts in a manner that is persistent with a child in that his motivations precisely lead to his actions. He does not act in a pure sense of dishonesty, reflective of the purity that is peculiar to someone who is like a kid at heart.
The issue of loyalty is embodied in the character of George. He is an intelligent man who could make a successful living for himself on his own. He chooses to stay beside his friend Lennie. George can never get a steady job to fulfill his long-term goal of having his own farm. The first job that Lennie and George have together goes well for a while. Eventually Lennie ruins everything that is going good for them. Lennie sees a pretty dress that a girl is wearing. Without thinking about what he is doing, he goes up and grabs the dress to feel the nice fabric. This scares the girl and she tells the boss. Soon the whole town is after Lennie. This is the perfect time for George to start a new life, without Lennie. However, because of his loyalty to Lennie, he chooses to help Lennie escape from the town. Lennie needs George to survive. It is this that propels George to make the sacrifice that he does. After Lennie kills Curley’s wife, George knows that this is the end for Lennie. No matter what, someone will eventually kill Lennie. And if Lennie gets away this time, there will be another time, and eventually the inevitable will happen. He truly loves Lennie, so he shoots Lennie painlessly in the back of the head. Lennie dies with the happy thought of the dream of the farm they want to own some day.
After Lennie gets into the debacle with Curley’s wife, he runs to the oasis described at the beginning of the book. George fears the men will tear Lennie apart and murder him. He also knew he would be institutionalized, or “caged” if he survived the attack. He had the moral clarity that let him see that killing Lennie was the best thing for him. When George kills Lennie, it’s a kind of mercy killing.
Curley to shoot him, because George did not want Lennie to die in the hands
George not only allowed Lennie to perish peacefully, but he also put in an immense amount of thought into his actions. It has been foreshadowed by Candy that this altercation was going to come up in the near future, even stating, “I oughtta of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t oughtta let no stranger shoot my dog” (Steinbeck 61). From having prior wisdom from Candy, the thought George put into his decision allowed Lennie to die in a safe environment, unlike Curley’s dog who died without love, and also created depth in his character. George knew that Lennie could never possibly understand the true horror of his actions, but the other migrant workers on the ranch did not. In modern days, many mercy killings have occurred, and even now they are with the same reasoning as George. Notorious Gigi Jordan, charged with murdering her autistic son Jude, claimed that the reasoning behind her actions were, “...to spare him from abuse from the hands of almost half a dozen people” (Rosenberg). This could be related back to George and Lennie in ways more than one. The abuse that the little boy was facing would be just as unbearable as the torture that Lennie would face from the two men. If Curley was going to kill him, he was not going to do it in an pleasant way. It would be torturous for the mentally impaired man, so allowing him to leave in a tranquil way was the best favor George could give him at that time. Thinking throughout this entire process is what made Lennie’s death justified, opposed to what would have happened if Curley and Carlson reached him first. In addition, before pulling the trigger, George states, “I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know” (Steinbeck 106). This displays the amount of speculation that he put into the death of his best friend due to his attempts to calm the male down. The last thing George knew he had to do was ensure that, if
George shoots Lennie because he sees what the other people on the ranch would do to Lennie. After asking Curley if he could not shoot Lennie, Curley tells George that, "'I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im'" (50). This shows that the others on the ranch weren't going to consider that Lennie was disabled, and Curley would try to make his death very painful. This gives George a motivation to kill Lennie: so he could make his death as painless as possible. This makes the reader have sympathy towards George. Additionally, the result of George killed Lennie, who would be the closest person to George to die at his hands, leaves George devastated that he had to do something like that to his best friend. Even though it is the best option and if I were in that scenario, the thing I would do, it understandably still makes his feel heart-broken. Ultimately, the whole book has made me feel sympathy towards George, but the ending makes me feel so much
While there were other elements at play, Lennie had to do with the majority of them. Not only his mental disability, which often got both him and George into trouble, but his inability to recognize his own strength. This leads to him accidentally killing Curley’s wife. He snapped her neck without even realizing that he had. “And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” (Steinbeck, 5) - this quote tells what happened to her, and he does not know that he did it. Curley, given his already hostile disposition towards Lennie, is beyond furious. He intends to kill Lennie. So, in his cleverness, George misleads them, and goes to find Lennie at his sanctuary, where he goes whenever there’s trouble. George took Carlson’s gun with him, realizing and knowing what he had to do. When he found Lennie, they chatted for a while, and George made sure Lennie was distracted. He then raised the gun to the back of Lennie’s head and pulled the trigger, instantly killing Lennie. This is commonly known as a “mercy killing”. Another example of a mercy killing is bringing your pet, whether it be old, diseased, injured, etc, to the vet to have it put down, put to sleep, etc. George did this not only for Lennie, out of benevolence as opposed to what Curley might do, but for himself and for the greater good. Case in point, this unforeseen event dissipates the dream, as George shared it with Lennie, and with Lennie out of the picture, there’s no reason to continuing said dream, if a major part of it is gone and
“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.
In the Salinas River Valley, after the Great Depression, there were a large number of unemployed workers seeking jobs. In the fiction novel "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small is among one of those men. Lennie and his friend George both have just received jobs on a ranch as farm workers. What brings the two together is their dream to someday own their own land. Lennie has a lot of character and personality traits that define him. One trait that he has is he is very forgetful. Another trait he has is he is very curious. A final trait he has is that he is very reliant. Although he might not be the intelligent person in the book, he has a very well developed personality. Lennie demonstrates his personality and character traits throughout the novel.