The Power Of Death 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.

After Lennie has inadvertently murdered Curley’s wife, Curley’s lynch mob go out in search of Lennie. George’s decision is almost inevitable to spare Lennie’s life, rather than let Curley and his gang destroy the bit of life Lennie has.

Throughout the novel, Lennie is put to the test against obstacles he has to overcome; he always turns to George for the right answer. Lennie trusts George to make the right decision for him. When Curley was fighting Lennie, Lennie was covering his face with his hand until George screams, “Get ‘im, Lennie” and instantly Lennie puts his hand on Curley and breaks the bones in his hand (Steinbeck 63). Lennie can’t think for himself and never truly means to be mean. Lennie doesn’t know how to control his own body, “He was so little… I was jus’ playin’ with him…an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me…an’ I made like I was gonna smack him… an’…an’ I done it. An’ then he was dead” (Steinbeck 87). In other words, it foreshadows that he is too strong for his own mind and that something potentially worse could happen. Sadly, George made the right decision for Lennie by killing him to prevent future suffering and

In Of Mice and Men, George was right to kill Lennie. In the novel, Lennie killed a mouse, a puppy, and a woman. Lennie could have been charged with rape on two separate occasions. In Weed, Lennie grabbed a woman and ripped a part of her clothes off. At the farm, in the barn, Lennie stroked her hair and accidentally killed her. George killed Lennie, because Candy told George he wished he would have shot his own dog, Lennie killed Curley’s wife, the puppie, and the mouse, and the lynch mob would have done worse things to Lennie.

Two hours after George killed Lennie, George was at the bar with Curley and Slim to get a drink, and the three began talking about Lennie, making George start to think if he had done the right thing by shooting Lennie in the head. After the three left the bar, George walked out onto the street and saw Curley's wife walking down the street. George decided to shrug it off and told himself that it was all part of his imagination, and George returned to his house. Three years later, George had built the house by the lake that Lennie had wanted, and George had buried Lennie's body in the backyard. Later, George had decided to go to the bar to get a drink, when he got to the bar he saw Slim and Carley, and Curley's wife all talking with each other. When the group saw George, he was in awe "I thought that Lennie killed you..." he said to Curley's wife, Curley replied excitedly "Nope, i'm not sure how but she is alive!" George was still confused, then Slim said "Stop asking so many questions and come have a drink" George had then began thinking about how the only reason he killed Lennie was because Lennie went too far to save by killing Curley's wife. After that, George had began disconnecting himself with the rest of the group because he had become depressed after he had learned that Lennie wasn't a murderer. Just as George was thinking about how he shouldn't have killed Lennie, he heard a knock on his door, and he went to see who it was, Curley's wife was at the door with Slim, and both were looking sad. George had opened the door for them, and said "What happened?" Curley's wife looked back at him, and informed him that Curley had been murdered. George beckoned the two inside is house, and said "Come in, do either of you want anything to drink?" Curley's wife shook her head Slim walked her inside. The three sat down at a table in George's house "Tell me what happened" George said nervously, Curley's wife replied, "I was having an argument with Curley and he had gotten angry and stormed off, later, when i went looking for him, I found him in the ranch, with an axe wound in his head." Curley's wife started crying and Slim looked at George, "She came to me and told me the story, then asked

“It's not a choice between life and death. It's a choice between different ways of dying” (Preiss). Of Mice and Men, winner novel of the nobel prize in Literature, by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters, George was facing the same problem as Candy whose dog got put down by one of the workers, a stranger. Lennie, the other main character in the novel is getting hunted down by Curley because Lennie didn't know his own strength and accidentally murdered his wife. George made the decision, with Candy and his dog situation in mind, instead of Lennie dying with miserable death, George would put him down with a different and a peaceful way of dying. Of Mice and Men resolves that killing, is a moral option, and should be the person’s own decision.

Throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men, there are various examples of foreshadowing that alludes to the death of Curley’s wife. The earliest example of this, is when George discovers the mouse that Lennie has been holding, “Lennie held his hand away from George’s direction ‘It’s on’y a mouse, George.’ … ‘Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George.

Would you kill someone or let them suffer? Well in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, during the Great Depression, George had to make a choice on whether he would allow his friend Lennie to suffer or kill him so he wouldn’t suffer. George and Lennie have been friends since they were kids. They even travel together, but in this time period this was strange because most people travel alone. George takes care of Lennie because Lennie has a disability. Lennie can’t remember anything, and when Lennie’s scared he holds onto things and doesn't let go. Lennie also likes to pet soft things for example a mouse, but if the mouse tries to bite him he will kill the mouse. George helps Lennie out of trouble. For instance when Lennie killed Curley’s wife and Curley wanted revenge, George had to decide if wanted Lennie to suffer or a quick fast death. Without a doubt, killing Lennie is the best option George has.

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

George also warns Lennie to not be near Curley’s wife, as he senses trouble between the two. Nevertheless, at the conclusion of the book, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife after trying to calm her down (as she was screaming for help because Small would not let go of her soft hair). Overall, Lennie’s outstanding physical strength combined with his lack of intelligence and moral sense makes him dangerous without George monitoring him constantly.

When Lennie realized she was dead, he ran to the bush that George told him to go to if he ever was in trouble. Later on, when George found out that Lennie killed Curley’s Wife, he was petrified. He knew that there was no escape for Lennie, and that Curley would kill him in a brutal

Destruction of an Eager Life "Suffering is not worthless, and our lives are not our own to take..." (Briggs). If a 30 year old North Carolina native with inoperable brain cancer can say this in the face of death, what compels people to believe death is the right way out? This is exemplified in the novela Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. At the end of the book a man named George chose to shoot his mentally disabled acquaintance Lennie whom had recently accidentally committed murder and would soon be hunted down.

In the first chapter of ‘Of Mice and Men’, George discovers that Lennie had been keeping dead mice in his pocket. Lennie insists on an unlikely story, that the mice were already dead when he found them. This shows the audience that although Lennie does not mean to kill the mice, it keeps recurring because he is completely unaware of his own strength. Later on in the story, Lennie kills one of Slim’s puppies. He was warned to be gentle and keep the pup with its mother but didn’t listen.

After Lennie killed Curley’s wife, Curley and a mob went after Lennie to “shoot him in the guts,”(Steinbeck) which would have been a excruciating and slow death. George also realizes Lennie would be lonely in jail and without a friend where they would “strap him down and put him in a cage.” (Steinbeck) By mercifully killing his friend, George shows that his decision to give

Of all the possible ways Lennie could have died, he died in the most peaceful way and George did the right thing. The novel Of Mice and Men takes place in the great depression and George and Lennie are two migrant farm workers that travel together. After Lennie kills Curley's wife on accident, George is forced to make a difficult decision. For example, George makes the right decision to kill Lennie because Lennie would not be able to live on his own because Lennie is not very bright. George even saves himself from regret if he did not kill Lennie himself, he felt Lennie is his responsibility.