In life, we, as humans, are very often defeated by forces beyond our own control, no matter how much control over our lives we believe we have. These circumstances may include, but are not limited to, race, age, law, handicaps, natural disasters, illness, death, and even society’s beliefs or standards. In the book, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie are defeated by conditions out of their control. They had a dream. They wanted a farm to call their own. However, unfortunate circumstances, the very factors that led to their aforementioned defeat, made this achievement impossible. Their defeat is relative because it supports the themes of the book. George and Lennie’s goal, their dream, was owning their own farm. Lennie wants …show more content…
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
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
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,
After Lennie makes his mistake of killing Curley's wife the other characters want to brutally kill him being led by Curley but George who realises that this is a cruel way for Lennie to die and that he can’t save Lennie he decides that Lennie must have a merciful death. The reader infers when Curley says “ ‘I know who done it,[...][It was lennie].I know he done it. [...] I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun[...]I’ll shoot him in the guts’ ” ( 96). In this quote we understand that Curley plans on killing Lennie but in a more painful way than Lennie deserves. Thus George realizes that Lennie is about to be killed in a horrific way so he intervenes and kills Lennie in a peaceful way. This shows that mercy killing is to be done over the horrific way that Curley wants to take out Lenie. Because Lennie would have a much worse death than needed and Lennie could have put up a fight, George completes a mercy killing as the safest
In fact, near the ending of the story, he unintentionally snapped Curley’s wife’s neck trying to quiet her (91). Failing to recognize his own strength, Lennie accidentally took her life, proving that he was perilous. By shooting Lennie, George prevented Lennie from accidentally injuring or killing anyone ever again. His verdict was correct in view of the fact that he sacrificed his friend’s life with the intention to protect the lives of others. Furthermore, George’s decision protected Lennie. As a punishment for his deeds, The workers wanted Lennie executed. George realized this and told candy, “Curley’s gon’ta wanta get ‘i'm lynched. Curley’ll get ‘im killed,” (94). In consequence of killing Curley’s wife, Lennie unknowingly put himself in harm's way. Curley’s motive for wanting to kill Lennie was spite and revenge. So, instead of allowing Lennie to be murdered alone and afraid, George took matters into his own hands and made sure his friend died knowing he was cared for and full of hope. Through it's ironic, George’s choice protected Lennie from the malice of others, thus keeping him unafraid and unharmed. However, others may believe
“I shouldn't of did that. George’ll be mad. An’ . . . . he said . . . . an’ hide in the brush till he come. He’s gonna be mad. In the brush till he come. That's what he said.” Lennie went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her.” Page 45. George has to decide on what to do. In that moment he decides that the best decision is to kill him and he does. In the book it said, “The voices came close now. george raised the gun and listened to the voices.” He didn't want Curley to get to him and make him suffer so he readied himself to shoot Lennie. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” “Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” Page 52. they were so close to there dreams but in the end they didn't make it. but the stories shows that have a hope and dream drives you to do what most
If someone’s actions are truly innocent, why must someone kill him? Lennie has never done something to inflict pain everything has been unintentional. Lennie was a strong young man, but with a mental illness. Lennie made multiple mistakes, he was murdered and it affected a lot of people including the killer.
In conclusion, George killing Lennie was a murder because of lack of consent and Lennie was not suffering physically. In this society, people are scared of the unknown, and that is how they lived. No one realized what they were doing was wrong. But Lennie was just like everyone else, only different because of a small, mental setback. The characters did not seem to realize that Lennie believed in a future ahead of him, and that he had hopes and dreams just like them. Life is incredibly short, and no one should deserve
I couldn’t find a quote from the book that directly said he was doing in out of intention to give Lennie a merciful death, although it is a good chance that that was what he was doing by telling him their “dream” while being put down. (pg. 106-107) By giving Lennie a very quick and painless death, this is another way of it being merciful, even though you wouldn’t think so. Even something as little as where they were at could have affected Lennie in a great deal due to his mentality. George did the right thing by giving Lennie a merciful
Firstly, if George did not kill Lennie, Curley would have inhumanly killed Lennie. Curley plans to torture Lennie because he has killed his wife and wrecked his hand in the fight earlier in the book. For example: Curley says, “ I’m gonna shoot the guts out of that big bastard myself even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get im” (98).
In the end Lennie caused a big conflict by killing Curley's wife. This lead George to kill Lennie for his own good. If George wouldn’t of killed Lennie, Curley would have killed him in a more brutal way by making him suffer. George and Lennie could have ran away but Curley wasn’t going to give up until he found them. If they would have ran away they both would have been lynched. Killing Lennie was a big decision George had to make, but it was the best for Lennie. Even when Lennie died George managed to make him happy by telling him the story of their dream farm and their plans for it. George was a good friend so he did what a good friend would do in that
Lennie himself had problems such as mental illness which he suffered from causing him to do bad deeds. First in the beginning, George and Lennie was trying to escape weed because, Lennie killed a women from their. Lennie holds small and fragile things in his hand, and does not understand how weak and frail they are, which ends up hurting or killing them.”I like to put things with my fingers, sof’ things”(90). He doesn't have any understanding when he is hurting something when he squeezes it because, he is mentally challenged. The last thing that shows this is he killed Curley's wife as well around the end of the novel.
He now faces living alone without friendship or hope. It is also the death of his dream: owning a shack on an acre of land that they can call their own. In the great work, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck makes clear that George is faced with many struggles.
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 George is away, Lennie does something very bad, he kills Curley’s wife along with his dog; both on accident. This event causes Lennie to run away and Curley to go after him in anger to kill him. “‘All right, you guys," he said. "The nigger's got a shotgun. You take it, Carlson. When you see 'um, don't give 'im no chance. Shoot for his guts. That'll double 'im over’”(48). In the quote, it shows that Curley has no compassion or empathy. He does not show empathy towards neither his wife or Lennie and his actions. Instead, he says he is going to kill him in a painful, long way. This whole quote says so much about Curley’s character, it shows he has a poor character and bad morals; unlike George. Curley’s characterization reveals a lot about his character and how he is ruthless and doesn’t care for others not even his deceased wife. George later kills Lennie out of compassion because he is better off killed peacefully than by what is to come, Curley and his painful death. “Lennie begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now." "Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta." And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he
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.