Important Choice in of Mice and Men

Decisions shouldn’t be made based on fear and the possibility of what might happen, but sometimes it’s that fear of the possibility that forces the unwanted decisions to be made. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, a man with a mental disability accidently kills Curley’s wife; that man is known as Lennie. Curley immediately sends his men after Lennie when he found what Lennie had done to his wife. Lennie escapes into the bushes and waits for his best friend, George. When George found out what had happened, he sneaks off to help prevent Lennie from possible punishments; he shoots Linnie behind the head. What George did was best for Lennie.

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.

In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George was overall morally justified for shooting Lennie because he had good reasons to do so. George did take Lennie’s life but he did it to save Lennie from the pain of Curley’s wrath. If George did not kill Lennie, then he would have had to suffer through life in jail or an asylum or torture from Curley. Many people think that George was responsible for Lennie, so the murder was not justified. However, George was justified because Lennie had hurt others before and had strong potential to hurt again.

It has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this point, Lennie's innocence is not very accepted with the world because of his size, age, etc. He can’t really learn to change his ways due to his disabilities. Lennie can’t even understand why the bad things he has done are bad. Also, the fate he would meet at Curley's mutilated hands is enough to convince George that his only real option is to make Lennie's death as quick and painless as possible. Lennie would have died at the hands of Curly anyways, which would have been a much more painful and dehumanizing death for Lennie. He couldn't be taken to a mental hospital and in the depression, these were basically non-existent and spending a life in jail would be even more torture for a mentally ill person than death itself. George did what was right because he prevented Lennie from doing anything this terrible again, he stopped Lennie from a more painful death, and he really didn't have any other responsible

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

Everyone makes mistakes and bad decisions. Whether they rarely happen or occur frequently, all people make them. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, some of the characters make wrong choices. Lennie made many bad decisions throughout the book and he shouldn’t have done what he did, even if he thought he was doing the right thing at the time. When Lennie crushed Curley’s hand he definitely did not do the right thing because Curley already disliked him, Curley had much more power over him, and it gave Curley a reason to kill him.

George is one of people in the ranch that had big goals to achieve, but he couldn’t accomplish any of them because of Lennie. George taking care of Lennie affects his dreams in a big way because every time George gets closer to his dreams Lennie completely ruins it. In the story it states George saying “ dumb bastard likes to touch everything he likes”(steinbeck 41). This is very important because this shows how childish lennie acts. The most important thing to him was to have dreams to have a farm and his own place with Lennie. This quote “ we got a future “ (Pg . 14) shows that he had a dream worth living for. Another way George had gotten his dreams taken away was when Lennie killed their boss’s wife. I know that George was a very lonely person because in the story he talks about guys like him in the ranch . “ guys like us , that work on a ranch are the loneliest guys in the world” (Pg . 13). This is very important because it shows his feelings towards being lonely.

This theme of of Mice and Men is that things don't always work out the way you plan, its developed through the characters dialogue and actions the throughout the book. The two main characters ,George and Lennie, despite their differences, form a family like friendship to face the loneliness that comes with being a Ranch workers. Lennie and George both cling to the hope that they can one day buy a small house throughout the course of the book. Their idea is first mentioned in the beginning, but it's clear the this idea was thought of before the book's plot line. "O.K. Someday- we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and couple of acres an' a cow and some pig and--" This shows

The killing of Lennie completely destroyed George. Lennie was his source of hope, since he was responsible for Lennie's well being. Lennie's presence stopped him from going to "cathouses" and wasting all his money. This made him save money to buy the ranch, which was their dream. This also gave George a

Individuals have had to do something they do not want to do at least once in their lives. It could be something small, or something to a bigger extent. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, many characters struggle with loneliness because the novel is set during the Great Depression when many people found it difficult to make a living. This is one of the reasons why many readers find it odd that Lennie Small and George Milton travel together in these desperate times. George and Lennie look out for each other at every place they go. At the Tyler Ranch, Lennie’s disability causes him to get into trouble, big trouble. George has to make the toughest decision of his life: kill his friend or let him die a painful death. George decided to kill Lennie because he would not be able to allow Lennie to experience misery. George Milton did not kill Lennie Small out of hate, but out of friendship.

The book says on page 10, “You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.” With Lennie gone, George will be more free than before and will be able to make more money. Also, the text says on page 87, “For a moment he seemed bewildered. And then he whispered in fright, ‘I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing.’” Lennie knew that he did bad things, and physically hurt people, but he couldn’t control himself when he was doing

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

the killing is laid. In Of Mice and Men, although George chose to kill Lennie, Steinbeck’s portrayal of their deep friendship throughout his novela proves George’s final actions of pulling the trigger on Lennie is an at of mercy because George had Lennie’s best interests at heart.

     George was a very smart and able man who had taken responsibility of a mentally-challenged man named Lennie. George could have found a good steady job for which he could