A Mercy Killing In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

George and Lennie were best friends for a long time, more like brothers. Lennie is about as bright as a 2 watt bulb, so George couldn’t really get mad at him when he accidently killed Curley’s wife while feeling the softness of her hair. “…’I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know’”. The two had planned a future together—a future in their own dream ranch, a ranch where no trouble would ever bother them. “’You…an’ me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ‘em’”. Then after he tells him about the rabbits that Lennie is so fond of, he shoots him in the back of the head where he knows it will not hurt him, and Lennie will not know what hit him. This is the peaceful alternative to what Curley had in store for him. Curley's exact words were "shoot the bastard right in the guts." George's euthanizing of Lennie makes the mentally incompetent Lennie die with dignity. Had Curley gotten to Lennie first, Lennie would have suffered. This shows you how much George cares for Lennie, no matter what he does or the crimes he commits. He’d always be there to help Lennie get right back up to his feet, make him forget all his worries, and move on like nothing happened. I strongly believe George was the right person to kill Lennie, and made the right decision in doing so, rather than to let him suffer in the hands of Curley.

George promises Lennie many things once they get their own farm, “’O.K. Someday- we’re gonna get the jack together… ‘Specially if you remember as good as that.’”(15-16). So George killing Lennie was for his own benefit and it was a very immoral thing to do.

One reason George had to kill Lennie is because his punishment could have been worse. For example, on page 96 curley said he was going to take a shot gun and shoot him in the guts. “I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big ______________ myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts. Come on guys.” (Steinbeck 96). This states that Curley and other fellow ranchers were going to do horrible things to Lennie. Since George didn’t want Lennie to suffer, George took

A piece of text from the book Of Mice and Men says that, “Guys like us got no family. They make a little stake an’ then they blow it. They ain’t got nobody in the worl’ that gives a hoot in [heck] about ‘em” (Steinbeck 104). Therefore, George was pointing out to Lennie that they have what most guys in their time period don’t, they have each other and George is telling Lennie that that’s how he wants it to stay. George doesn’t want to kill Lennie, but he feels like has to. George is going to regret this in his future. A different quote I found is when George and Lennie are talking, “Lennie said ‘I thought you was mad at me, George.’ ‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s the thing I want ya to know’” (Steinbeck 106). Therefore, this quote tells us that George doesn’t want to kill Lennie, but he feels as if he needs to. Lennie was George’s only family and George wants Lennie to know that before he kills him. George cares about Lennie and George is not going to be happy after Lennie is gone for a little bit. The act of George killing Lennie is

He knew that it was his responsibility to kill Lennie. He killed Lennie because he was responsible for him. George also killed him because he did not want to feel guilty or bad like Candy. George also didn’t want Lennie to have a painful death by the hands of Curley’s gang. He knew that it would be best for him and Lennie for him to do it himself. He wanted Lennie to feel comfortable and he wanted to tell him how he felt. George says “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want you to know”(Steinbeck 106). George did the right

“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.” George has just killed his best friend (Steinbeck 106). In John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella Of Mice and Men, George Milton and Lennie Small are a pair of pals that travel across California in search of work in the 1930s. With Lennie’s simple-minded thinking, he runs George and himself into trouble which costs them their job. The pair finally settles at a ranch somewhere in rural California after getting chased out of their last job. After a while, the inevitable happens and Lennie does something that does not look good for him, which causes men from the ranch to go chasing after him with the intent of killing him. Lennie flees to a nearby river where George meets him. To spare Lennie from the mental suffering of people always getting frustrated with him and criticizing his mistakes, George takes his life in an act of mercy.

In John Steinbeck's classic novella, Of Mice and Men, George makes the decision of killing Lennie because he knows it is in Lennie's best interest. His act of killing Lennie is not considered criminal. George has good intentions in killing his companion. George is trying to prevent Lennie from being tortured and from his constant desire to please George and not cause trouble. Additionally, Lennie repeatedly places himself in difficult situations, and as a result, brings George into the circumstances. There is a close friendship between George and Lennie, and George had carefully thought out whether or not he

In John Steinbeck 's classic novella, Of Mice and Men, one of the predominant themes that govern the story and characters in the book is friendship. One of the ways in which friendship plays a large role is in the area of mercy killing, which affects the main characters as well as the supporting ones. The two major mercy killings that occur in the book are those of Carlson 's killing of Candy 's old dog, and of George 's killing of Lennie. In both of these examples, the killer kills the other out of mercy and love, not for the usual motives of hatred, rage, anger, etc.

In the beginning of the book George wanted to be alone; he knew that he could be but Lennie would be all alone and would most likely die. Steinbeck stated “God a’mighty if I was alone I could go live so easy” this shows that he really cares about Lennie and even though he is a pain, he still wants Lennie to be okay. As the book progresses, George starts to change his mind about being alone; he starts playing games with the other men. Instead of playing solitaire, he started playing horseshoes. In the last sentence of chapter 6 right after he shoots Lennie, George seemed to realize that he didn’t want to be alone after all, Lennie was his only real friend and now he gets to be lonely but it’s not at all how he imagined it.

Steinbeck foreshadows the killing of Curley’s wife through two quotes found in chapter 1 and 2 of Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie were sitting together

Would you do anything for a loved one? Would you even go as far as to kill them? Well George Milton killed his closest friend Lennie at the end of John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men. George never meant any harm to Lennie, George always cared for Lennie. George did this to protect Lennie from others who were trying to find and harm him. George did this out of love and not hate. Therefore, George killing Lennie was justified by the fact that his acts weren’t to harm Lennie. If George wouldn’t have killed Lennie, Lennie could have got much worse.

Of Mice and Men Essay In the fictional novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie at the end of the novel was justified. Lennie is the mentally handicapped best friend of George. Lennie got himself into trouble when he accidentally killed Curley’s wife. George’s decision to kill Lennie was justified because George was trying to prevent Lennie from a brutal and painful death, and living a life on the run isn’t really living.

After this harsh act from Lennie other characters, including Curley the husband of whom died, came looking for Lennie to kill him. With luck, George got to Lennie first and ended up killing Lennie himself. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, he shows that George shooting Lennie was an act of strength by showing kindness. This proves

George was right kill Lennie because he would have done something else to accidentally hurt others over and over again. As George and Lennie are by the river, George looks at me and tells him, “ ‘An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in weed, neither”... ‘Oh, so ya forgot that too, did ya? Well I ain’t gonna remind ya, fear ya do it again’”(Steinbeck 7). In this quote, it explains how forgetful and unaware Lennie is of his actions, that would lead to him not learning anything from his mistakes, and he doesn’t know how bad, bad things are.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novel with such intensity that it really grabs the focus on mercy killing. In the story George has to kill his best friend Lenny because Lenny killed the wife of their boss’s son. So George had to pull the trigger using a method of mercy killing because George knew that the other men were going to give Lenny a slow painful death, so George could not see his best friend di at the hands of another. So George killed Lenny himself.