Peaceful Execution in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

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Peaceful Execution in Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men is written by John Steinbeck. The story is about these two men, George and Lennie, and they find work at this ranch. Within a few days, Lennie, a tall bulky man with the brain of a young child, gets in trouble, making his traveling buddy, George, do the unthinkable. George shoots Lennie to make his death a more "joyous" one than the one he would've received from Curley, the man that wanted to kill him the most. It was right for George to shoot Lennie because Lennie died suddenly, was thinking about the dream, and was shot by a friend.

By having George shoot Lennie, Lennie died suddenly. Curley would have shot him in his stomach area to have him die a slow and painful death. Lennie didn't have to suffer the pain of death and George wouldn't have to stand there and have Lennie ask questions about why he didn't do anything to prevent Curley from shooting him.

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.

Lennie was shot by a friend who cared about him. There was no hatred between them making the death non-revengeful. It was just as if Lennie was hooked up to a machine that kept him alive and George pulled the plug. He was bound to be shot anyways so it was better that George "pulled the plug" instead of Curley. Curley would have shot Lennie in the guts to have Lennie suffer a more painful and slow death. It shows that George really cared for Lennie.

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