Mercy Killing In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Death, the one thing every person will eventually face, could be seen as an end or an entrance. What is your extent of a friendship? How far are you willing to go to help the person you care for? For many reasons, the majority of people think murder is immoral—especially if it was your own best friend. But sometimes we may have to go to the extreme, as long as we know it was the right thing to do from the heart because that’s how much you know you care. In the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, I strongly believe that George was right to kill Lennie.

In Chapter three, Candy expresses his feeling by showing his love to his dog when everyone tries to kill the sticking dog. Candy’s only friend and companion he has in his life is his dog. When Carlson tells Candy that he should shot the dog because the dog is too old and smelly. Candy tries to protect the dog by saying proudly “Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since was a pup… he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen” (P. 44). Although he shows he’s love towards the dog by protecting him, but at the end, he notice the best way to end the dog’s misery is by shooting him at the back of his head.

Oftentimes, we must sacrifice the most important things in our lives for the greater good. This idea happens in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. In this novel, two migrant workers, Lennie and George, arrives at their new ranch to earn some money. Lennie is a mentally disabled man, who often gets into trouble. George takes care of Lennie, acting as a parent for him. Both have dreams of living together and owning private property. But their dream gets ruined when Lennie accidentally kills the owner’s daughter-in-law. Before anyone finds Lennie and torture him, George decides to kill Lennie himself. Here is the excerpt from this scene:

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.

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.

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.

Two girls died the other day, one sadly took her own life while the other’s life was taken from her brutally. Everybody's upset, putting up suicide prevention posters and talking about how this is terrible and being sorry for the families who lost a loved one. Someone else ended their life through the process of Euthanasia, yet the third death was accepted and was hardly talked about. In Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters, George, is faced with a decision to kill his friend Lennie. George has a hard time doing so because he has known Lennie for so long. In the end George decides that it would be best if he killed Lennie, in a form called Euthanasia, instead of Curley brutally killing him. Euthanasia, also known as mercy killing, is when a doctor kills a patient painlessly because they have no more desire to live. Therefore, mercy killing is cruel and an unnecessary practice that seems to be very similar to a suicide and homicide.

Carlson tried sweetening the idea of mercy killing, explaining how Candy’s dog, “wouldn’t even quiver”(45) if he killed him. All in all, Carlson did not want Candy’s dog to live in pain and wanted to give him a brisk, peaceful death. The killing of Candy’s dog conveys the idea that Lennie may face a similar fate. Society did not seem to tolerate the weak during The Great Depression, which may have been because of the rough and brutal conditions people were living under. Lennie’s death is a realistic view of what might have actually happened during the 1930s.

Imagine watching an innocent man who can not control his actions have his own life taken from him by his best friend in a matter of minutes. In the novel “Of Mice and Men,” John Steinbeck uses dialogue to show that George does not do the right thing by killing Lennie. George and Lennie are two white men living during the Great Depression who are traveling in search of work to support themselves. The men have a dream to own their own farm one day, but because of Lennie’s mental disability the two are constantly nomading to new places for work. At the end of the novel, George is left with the choice to kill his best friend, or allow him to continue to cause harm to himself and others. George decides to murder his best friend, which many will

George is considered a murder for shooting a man that was scared. The law states it’s murder if you have anything to do with the murder. There was a doctor called “Korvikan” whom was arrested many times for murder. The reason is people and the law see it as murder because a machine that he built killed several ill patients. Yet there are some politicians who can change the law and it can be announce as assisted suicide. The law can be changed over the course of the years where it could be announce as assisted suicide.

Without reservation, Carlson says to Candy, “If you want me to, I’ll put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with. Ain’t nothing left for him. Can’t eat, can’t see, can’t even walk without out hurtin’” (47). This, much like the ending, illustrates Steinbeck’s ethical view of suffering being greater than death, but in a less extreme situation. Steinbeck prepares readers mentally by exposing them to a situation in which the motif applies and begins to form an internal conflict within readers. If Candy had not let his dog die, he would indeed have the dog he loved, but his dog would be suffering. Candy later says, “I oughtta of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t oughtta of let no stranger shoot my dog” (61). This exposes readers to what will happen and inherently introduces the idea of remorse for not ending their suffering peacefully. The strategic placement of this quote further pushes the overall lesson Steinbeck is trying to teach and lets it mature in readers’ minds by instilling this concept of killing the person the reader loves themselves (or being with them when they die) so that the last experience the person dying has is with someone they love and their last feeling of life is one of love and

The death of animals motif shows human power over animals. An example of this is when Lennie killed his pet mouse by “”Jus’ strokin’ it.” (9) Mice are fragile, tiny and to George useless as he “threw the mouse as far as he could into the darkening bush” (9). If Lennie can end an animal's life and George just throw it and have no emotion about it showcases that humans think that they have the power over something smaller then them or “lower” on the social ladder. Lennie is a guy that harms something but it’s unintentional as he “sat in the hay and looked at a little dead puppy that lay in front of him” (85) by once again simply stroking an innocent puppy too hard he killed it. This also goes along with having no regard on how to get rid of the dead animal as he states “‘I’ll throw him away,” he said. “It's bad enough like it is”’ (92) Indicating that he had the power of the puppies life and took it away. A final symbolization of power is Candy’s dog. Carlson is telling Candy to kill his

Although the killing of Lennie at the end of Of Mice and Men could be seen as a cold act of murder that George committed to free himself of Lennie, it was actually an act of kindness that George did for the benefit of Lennie. George was close to Lennie, maybe even like a brother. It was probably hard for him to do what he did, but it was what he thought he should do, the right thing to do. He knew that if Curley or Carlson did not kill him, or if he went off by himself, his life may have turned into one that he would not want to live.

Over the years, people have argued wether euthanasia is right or wrong. In the novel Of Mice and Men Lennie accidentally killed Curley’s which resulted in the execution of Lennie. But the one to kill him in the end was Lennie’s best friend George. But what George did was not murder he killed Lennie because Lennie would have suffered, he would have died happy, he had a history of killing, and he was a burden to George.

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley. an’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, for promis’d joy!” These famous words from Robert Burns’ poem “To a Mouse” inspired John Steinbeck’s title for Of Mice and Men. Just as it is useless for a mouse to try and protect its home from the blade of a plow, so are the human efforts and dreams for the unattainable in the face of natural and economic calamities. In the midst of the Great Depression, a man like Lennie who is incapable of thinking logically for himself renders it nearly impossible to survive without causing any trouble. George knew of this and tried to prolong the inevitable, but eventually had to face the ultimate price of taking away the life of the only friend he’s ever known and had. Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. Although mercy is the ideal side to choose, some readers think that George chose to kill Lennie because Lennie because Lennie is constantly in trouble and George was sick of solving all of Lennie’ problem. From murdering Lennie out of selfishness and murdering Lennie out of mercy, the basis of the debate on the intent of