Mercy Killings In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

One of the most astounding books Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, took place in one of the darkest time period in American History, the Great Depression. The setting of the book took place in a small country town in Soledad California, near the Salinas River. This book introduces the two main characters, George Milton, and Lennie Small with real life struggles of being migrant farm workers for a ranch. The story opens up with one of the many conflicts that George and Lennie will face throughout the whole story; George and Lennie running away from Weed after feeling a girls red dress. Although Lennie commits certain acts of violence in Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck portrays Lennie Small as having the traits common to the innocent archetype.

‘Of Mice and Men’ is a novel about two men and their struggle to reach their dreams of owning their own ranch. George Milton and Lennie Small are best friends, and in despite of their differences they still manage to work together, travel together and tackle anything that gets in their way. Steinbeck uses nearly all of the characters in this novel to stress the importance of having a friend.

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.

John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men follows the journey of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, who struggle through the navigation of working on a ranch in California and fulfilling their dreams together during a time of financial depression. The novel begins with George and Lennie traveling through the California wilderness to get to a new ranch just south of Soledad where they are going to begin new work. They had to leave their previous jobs in a town called Weed because Lennie had caused trouble with a girl by holding on to her red dress because he wanted to feel it, and this incident spiraled into rape allegations against Lennie. As George and Lennie make their way to the new ranch, Lennie; who is a large, but simple minded man; found a dead mouse and wanted to keep it to pet because he likes soft things. George, who is more serious and protects Lennie, takes the mouse away from him because even though it’s dead, he should not be messing with it. Lennie often does not realize his strength because of his mental incapabilities and as a result, he causes a lot of trouble and harm. George finds taking care of Lennie to be taxing, but he knows that their friendship is an important bond that he does not want to be without. In order to comfort Lennie in the wilderness, George tells the story of their shared dream to own their own ranch where they can follow their own rules and live as they please. When they finally arrive at the ranch the next day, George and Lennie

In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie and George have both similarities and differences that are revealed throughout the storyline. These comparisons and contrasts are used to explain their unique friendship and dependency on one another. The story begins with the description of their physical and intellectual differences and establishes their roles of who is the dominant one. The story shares the obstacles that have stood in the way of them obtaining their “American Dream” to own land, even if they if they have different motivations. The story concludes with the difficult choice that George makes to end Lennie’s life himself, out of his love for his friend.

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.

"I just done it ... took [the gun] an' ... killed him" says George on murdering Lennie (Steinbeck 107). John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men takes place at a ranch near Soledad, California during the Great Depression. George and Lennie are two migrant workers who travel together from place to place. Lennie has a mental disability and likes to pet soft objects. One day, Lennie starts to pet a woman’s hair. After the woman starts to panic, Lennie accidentally snaps her neck and kills her. George then hunts down Lennie and murders him. George murdered Lennie because Lennie didn’t wish to die.

As people may know, George Milton is accused for the murder of Lennie smalls instantly killing him in the back of his head. But George is innocent and there was a method to this behind all this madness. First it must be understood that George had two decisions: To kill Lennie? Or let Lennie live and take him to trial? Since Lennie was George’s best friend whom he took care of all the time because he was mentally disabled so, obviously George did not want to watch his friend be tortured and killed in such an inhumane, harsh manner which explains why George would choose to take the law into his own hands. “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck explains the story of two best friend’s George Milton a small guy, and Lennie Smalls a big

In Steinbeck’s Of Mice of Men, George is confronted with the troubling conflict of ending his best and only friend’s life. In the depression stricken 1930’s, George Milton and Lennie Smalls are saving money until they can buy their dream homestead. This dream comes to a screeching halt when Lennie kills the boss’s son’s wife. George decides to end Lennie’s life while describing their dream homestead one last time . George should have killed Lennie because Curley would have tortured him, lennie was his responsibility, and he would have continued to do bad things.

“He shook her then, and he was angry with her. ‘Don’t you go yellin’,’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. (91).These was one of the events that took place at the end of John Steinbeck’s book, Of Mice and Men. After endless catastrophes and tragedies, Lennie small, a giant mental handicapped, and best friend of George. He makes a terrifying mistake of killing of Curley’s wife at the ranch. The men at the ranch try to bring Lennie to justice by killing him brutally. So, George should make a right decision of what to do with Lennie. In the end, George did the right thing by killing Lennie because he killed a woman, Lennie was mentally handicapped, and men at the ranch would have killed him.

other hand, is the taller of the two, but also the dumbest, due to his

Picture a world surrounded by prejudiced acts that are enforced and allowed. Presently, many types of prejudice still occur in the world in many countries, but “Of Mice and Men” was taken place in a time where prejudice was more of a lifestyle than an action. Steinbeck’s novella involves two men, named George and Lennie, who work as labourers on a ranch in Soledad, California. Lennie has mental disabilities, which promotes him to make mistakes and poor actions throughout “Of Mice and Men”. Due to the rising action and climax of Lennie’s events, George is forced to shoot him in the conclusion of the novella, enabling him to help achieve his American Dream. The novella was written in the 1930’s, where racial and gender inequality took over the

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 novella Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, the relationship between Lennie Small and George Milton is complex. Lennie and George are two companions who look for work and brave the hardships of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression together. Although Lennie and George are both grown men, their relationship resembles more of a child and a single parent, or a boy and his dog. Lennie is portrayed as animalistic and childish through his behavior and Steinbeck’s comparisons. This reveals the crucial power dynamic in George and Lennie’s relationship.