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Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Decent Essays

At the end of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George shoots his best friend, Lennie, in the back of the head. George killed Lennie because he believed he didn’t have many options. He loved Lennie, and in a way he felt that he was protecting Lennie from others who wanted to kill him. What he did, though, could also be seen as evil. Lennie is a large, strong migrant worker, but he is also dumb and doesn’t know his own strength, which often gets him into trouble. At the end of the book, Lennie accidentally kills the wife of the farmer’s son, Curly. He goes into hiding, and Curly and the farmhands all go looking to kill Lennie. George knows they are coming to kill Lennie, and he knows they will be very harsh towards him. So George decides that he should be the one that kills Lennie, so he can make it a quick, painless death. …show more content…

Lennie had gotten into trouble like this before, and he and George had had to run away. Lennie had also accidentally killed a few animals on the farm, because he couldn’t control his own strength. But George probably felt that he could not protect Lennie this time, and that running away just wouldn’t work. So he probably thought he had to choose between letting Curly and the farmhands kill Lennie or doing it himself in a quick, painless way so Lennie wouldn’t even know what happened. George decided that the second option was best, so he killed Lennie, after distracting him, with a gunshot behind his

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