Mercy Killing In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck characterizes mercy killing a controversial one as it can be done out of good or avaricious intentions. Throughout the novel, he validates the statement with three disparate episodes: the killing of Candy’s dog, the drowning of Slim’s pups, and Lennie’s death. Although the purpose of mercy killings is to extricate the people from an even more excruciating affliction, the characters in “Of Mice and Men” either perform mercy killing for its actual purpose or for their own good. To start with, Candy’s dog “is so God damn old he can’t hardly walk”, “Stinks like hell”, blind, and deaf. Therefore, the men on the ranch could not stand the malodorous dog any more.

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.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck George kills his best friend Lennie. George’s reasoning for this is that Lennie is killing too many people and has become a burden. Lennie does not realize that he is doing wrong by accidentally killing animals and people. George says that he is doing this for other’s benefit when really he is doing this for his own good. This was wrong of George and he is guilty because even though Lennie was accidentally

George saved Lennie by shooting him with a gun in the back of the head. It was fast and painless, but Curley had other plans for Lennie, “We oughtta let ‘im get away. You don’t know that Curley. Curley gont’ta wanta get him lynched. Curley’ll get ‘im killed”( Steinbeck 94). Candy knows that Curely will lynch Lennie if he finds him. George knew he had to find Lennie before Curley. George decided to shoot Lennie because he knew Lennie would have either been locked up in jail his entire life, or have been beaten up and lynched by Curley. After George shoots Lennie, Slim reassures George that he did the right thing, “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda”(Steinbeck 107). George needed Slim to let him know that it was the right thing to do. Slim gave George closure, because George was in awe. George realized he did the right thing after he followed Slim out of the

During 1929, the Great Depression became the event that shook America. People lost their jobs, which resulted in unemployment and homelessness. Hobos and “Okies” tried moving to California did not accept the jobless migrations because they feared their opportunities for success would be lost. In Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men several characters experience cruelty because society outcasts them. These characters include Lennie, Candy, and Crooks. Of the three characters, Crooks has the least opportunity for success because he's African-American and handicap.

In the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there are many human and animal deaths all throughout the book. The most significant death was when George went against his will and killed Lennie. Lennie’s death was unjustified since he was never given any opportunity to make up for it or to just run and get away. After Lennie killed Curley’s wife no one could trust him and with that the workers on the ranch believed it was Lennie’s “turn” to die. Over the course of human history there have been many unjustified deaths leading to no charge against the assailants. Such as, death row, self-defense and euthanasia, these types of deaths are all unjustified and there are many reasons to authenticate it.

“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.

It's been four months, the doctors don't know what else they can do. You don't want to accept it but, she tells you to. Your daughter, your own flesh and blood, pride and joy, is begging you to stop the pain and suffering with her big cloudy doll eyes. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters, George, had come upon an unthinkable situation, where he best friend, Lennie, murders the wife of Curley. George faces the decision to weather let Lennie live, and suffer from Curley's vengeance, or to end Lennie's life permanently, and save him from suffering. The novel makes it clear that mercy killing, the act of putting an animal or human down painlessly without suffering, is a human way to show compassion towards

In the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie are migrant workers. They have to move around a lot because they run into many problems due to Lennie and his disability. George made a promise to Lennie's aunt that he would take care of him. They travel everywhere together and George cares for Lennie. At the end of the book, Lennie kills a ranch worker’s wife and a group of the ranch workers hunt Lennie down. George goes with them and finds Lennie, before any of them could and kills Lennie. George killed Lennie because he probably would have suffered a painful death. There is dispute over whether George committed murder or if what he did was considered Non- Voluntary Euthanasia. “Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally

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.

The biggest betrayal is when you’ve always been there for someone, and then they turn around and stab you in your back. The killing of Lennie was wrong. Murder is a crime and goes against the morals of human beings. George violated Lennie’s charter of rights and freedom. He took Lennie’s right to live. There are 3 reasons to support why George shouldn’t have killed Lennie. For starters, killing is wrong, humans need companionship and isolation can lead to depression. Lennie was always there for George and he betrayed their friendship by killing and turning against him.

In the book, Of Mice and Men, Lennie is killed by his friend, George, because Lennie killed Curley’s Wife. This is not mercy killing since George doesn't want anyone else to hurt or kill Lennie, so he kills him because then he won't have to live with the pain that someone else killed him. When Candy says “I ought to if shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to let no stranger shoot my dog.” (Steinbeck 61), he means that he rather of shot his own dog rather than Carlson.

“Carls right, Candy. That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ crippled” (45). Slim is the leader and choice maker of the group. By Slim saying this it shows the dog must be in bad shape.

When Candy brings his old dog into the farmhouse, the immediate response is, ”He ain’t no good to you, and he ain't no good to hisself. Why’n’t you shoot him?” (Steinbeck 49). Through this, Steinbeck demonstrates the utter lack of empathy others have for a weak individual. Carlson puts an offensive odor above the dog’s bond with Candy, ending its life just because he doesn’t like having it around.