Poor Decision Making In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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.

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

Finally, John Steinbeck shows off the bullying and meanness as intentional and contrasts it to Lennie’s unintentional meanness, such as when he hurts the puppy (pg 85), the mouse (pg 5), and kills Curley’s wife (pg 91). When Curley wants to fight it is intentional and violent. George explains Lennie’s violence when he says that Lennie "never done it in meanness" (pg 104). Lennie kills because he does not know his own strength – he cuddles or loves to hard. Also, he panics and reacts without thought, such as when he pulled the woman’s dress. (pg 41) Also, showing a contrast in motive is that Lennie is so upset by what he has done, especially to Curley’s wife. He is the only one who shows real remorse.

But Lennie, perfecting his craft one incident at a time, messes everything up. Lennie’s biggest fear was not being able to tend the rabbits when they get their own land, and he loved those rabbits. Lennie grieving over killing his puppy starts conversing with Curley’s wife, a decision he should have never made. Lennie got caught in an unbelievable predicament with Curley’s wife, he was holding her mouth shut while pulling her hair, getting angry at her tell her to shut up, because he does not want to get in trouble. Because, if he did he would not be able to tend the rabbits. As she continued to scream, louder and louder as seconds went by, Lennie with his harmless intentions did not know what to do, so he shook her to get her to shut up but unintentionally broke her neck (Steinbeck, 91). Lennie knowing what to do if he ever did something bad, escapes to the hideout that only him and George know about. Eventually, everybody finds out about Curley’s wife when Candy found her dead body in the barn. At this moment, George knew he had two decisions that would change his life forever. He would either side with his new friends and find Lennie, or escape with Lennie and find another place to work. George makes the right decision and sides with his friends, but he knew they wanted Lennie dead, so he decided to do it himself. George met up with Lennie at their hideout and told him to look the other way and envision everything good about the farm, not wanting to harm Lennie he made sure he was as happy as he could be at that very moment. As George started to describe the farm to him, he put the gun to the back of his neck and pulled the

Before Curley started physically hurting Lennie, Curley yelled at him. Curley had developed a look of pure rage and then started screaming; “Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier. ‘What the hell you laughin’ at?’ ‘Huh?’ Then Curley’s rage exploded. ‘Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me I’ll show ya who’s yella’” (62). This proves that Curley didn’t like him very much. Crushing his hand only made him more upset. Curley seemed upset enough to kill him but couldn’t because he didn’t have a legitimate reason yet. Lennie was hanging out in the barn when Curley’s wife walked in. The two of them talked and then Lennie started petting her hair. A moment later, Lennie had realized the he touched her a little too hard and he had accidentally killed her. When Curley found out, he was extremely upset with Lennie; “Curley came suddenly to life. ‘I know who done it.’ he cried. ‘That big son-of-a-bitch done it. I know he done it. Why ever’body else was out there playin’ horseshoes.’ He worked himself into a fury. ‘I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts’” (96). This proves that Curley just used his wife’s death as an excuse to kill Lennie. When Curley found out his wife died he cared more about killing Lennie than about his wife’s death. He was

George was not going to be able sit aside and watch while they would have tortured him. Steinbeck describes Curley’s plans for torturing Lennie by writing, “I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im.” (98). Although some argue that they might have put Lennie in the laws custody, George thought that locking Lennie away in a mental asylum was even worse than shooting him. If Curley had tortured Lennie, Lennie would be like a small child and would not be able to grasp what was happening and why George was not stopping the

“‘Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ‘em.’ ‘Le’s do it now. Let’s get that place now’” (106). These are the last words that filled the air between George and Lennie, their last exchange preceding a pivotal moment in both of their lives. They conversation calms and soothes Lennie, who hopes to finally get the farm that he and George dreamed about for so many years. Yet unbeknownst to him, Lennie would soon be set free from his earthly bonds by his long-time friend; a bullet, shot from the barrel of George’s gun, would enter Lennie’s head and kill him instantly. That bullet was not one of self-gain and moral disrepute, but one of freedom and liberation from worldly restraints. While this remains a hotly contested topic in classrooms reading Of Mice and Men, George’s intentions in killing Lennie were overwhelmingly good-natured.

Why George should not have killed Lennie in the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

In the Of Mice of Men by John Steinbeck, George should have killed Lennie because Lennie likes to forget something that's very important and he always makes a lot of problems and the last Curley would hurt him more than George did and Lennie would feel very suffer. George should have killed Lennie because he could get rid Lennie as the troublemaker who pulls George down and makes anything worse. " OK. I'll tell ya again. I ain't got nothing to do.

Lennie enjoys mice and always captures them, but always ends up killing them by accident. Lennie doesn’t intend to do this and doesn’t realize it’s wrong. He eventually ends up killing Curley’s wife without actually meaning to. This causes Curley to become angry and George to realize that something needs to be done to stop Lennie. “I’m gonna shoot the guts outta that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im”(Steinbeck 98). This shows that Lennie killing Curley’s wife really did make Curley mad, and if George didn’t kill Lennie himself, Curley was going to. Without realizing it, Lennie makes people upset or mad because of things he doesn’t know are wrong. George killing Lennie was an option because either he had to get it over with or Curley was going to take it upon

People are driven to kill others for different reasons. In the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck tells a story of two men in the 1900s trying to find work. Their names are George and Lennie who end up working on a ranch, which and soon Lennie would cause a decade of problems. Which shall lead to the death of him killed by his own colleague, George. George was justified in killing Lennie because Lennie instigated a lot of problems for society.

Showing Justification Within Interference John Steinbeck employs the idea of the actions of the characters to be justified at the end of the novel Of Mice and Men. The story ends a lot more peacefully than the way the story could have ended with the interference of the other characters from a sad accident. Lennie causes himself and George to be on the run in the beginning of the story, and the two men end up in trouble again at the end of the story once again, because of Lennie’s actions, when Lennie kills Curley’s wife. George kills Lennie while he is dreaming about rabbits, which causes him to be happy when he dies, like George wants him to be. Furthermore, George knows that he wants to kill Lennie himself because Curley and Carlson talk about torturing Lennie to his death and killing him with Carlson’s Luger.

Sometimes you make decisions that take other people into consideration, but a majority of the time you make choices without realizing it will affect other people. Situations like that happen a lot in “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. Throughout the book, the characters face many situations in which they have to make difficult choices. Most of the time the choices that the characters make create a snowball effect and turn into bigger problems. There are many instances throughout the book where this has happened.

In the book Of Mice and Men the author explains that George shot Lennie when writing “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied he pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). With this action of George, people ask if his crime should be justified or not. This is the feelings that George is having at the end of the novella right before he shoots Lennie. With this, some readers might think that George should not get punished. However they do not realize that George had killed a person who was capable of taking care of himself he was strong and mighty and could do anything people told him to do but he was not necessarily the smartest one. George also should get punished because Lennie killed someone first but they should have just left Lennie alone instead of killing him and most likely getting into trouble. The decision that George made to shoot Lennie is not justified. This isn’t justified because he shot a person and that is murder even though Lennie killed someone but George did not have to personal right to shoot Lennie.