The Role Of Killings In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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.

George’s execution of Lennie was justified. This is because Lennie is not only causing harm to himself, but now causing harm to things around him, and there were no other alternatives to this decision. Lennie does things he doesn’t realize are wrong until after he does them which in the end hurts him and people around him, and no other alternatives to his behavior seem to be working.

The taken lives of animals is overlooked but the loss of any one human is important thus for the death of curley’s wife will be avenged. Lennie is being hunted by the spouse of the dead. If anyone is to find him curley wants to be told so he can personally take care of the matter of justice. George knows where lennie is so he ran to find him before anyone else so he could see him again. When george gets there he finds lennie and lennie starts saying that it was an accident and it was not his fault. So george calms lennie down by telling him stories of the farm. Then george shoots lennie in the head to peacefully take him out of a world he doesn’t belong in. steinbeck used foreshadowing in the shooting of candy’s dog because he isn’t good for

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.

Because in the beginning of chapter 3 a man who worked in the ranch named Carlson killed candy’s dog because of his awful stench he leaves behind “he won’t even feel it” said Carlson he resisted to the idea at first but he gave out and so Carlson took the dog away from the ranch and shot him. “A shot sounded in the distance”. Moments after Carlson came in and said with out no remorse for what he’d done and said “curley been in yet”. This quote shows that Carlson not only felt no guilt for killing an animal but was relieved in doing so. In chapter 3 George and lennie being introduced to Curley the son of the boss and a young man who dreams of becoming a boxer but he has one weakness that we can see he has a temper. “He hates big guys, kind of like he’s mad at’em because he isn’t a big guy (pg.26). Leading George to think that one of them will be forced to fight Curley. “I’m scared I’ll tangle with the bastard myself”. (pg.37). if lennie isn’t careful around Curley he might get Carlson to finish him off like he did the dog. This is one of the deaths that foreshadow lennie imminent

The first event that foreshadows Lennie’s death is when Carlson shoots Candy’s dog. Carlson shoots Candy’s dog because it is very old and it smells. Although, that’s not really a valid reason to kill an animal, Carlson does it anyway. Carlson takes the dog out into the field and shoots him in the back of the head. Carlson shoots him in the back of the head so the dog would die instantly and not be in pain. This event foreshadows the death of Lennie because George also shoots him in the back of the head so he does not have to undergo pain. George takes Lennie to sit in front of a river and has him picture the dream farm and then he shoots him in the back of the head. These two events share some similarities and differences. One similarity is both Candy’s dog and Lennie are shot with Carlson’s gun. Another similarity is

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.

As George found out about the puppy and Curley’s Wife he immediately ran down to the river. Once he got there he was talking to Lennie and knew he was going to have to shoot him. As he was getting ready to shoot Lennie he pointed it to the back of his head and did it. Lennie’s death is the same as Candy’s dog’s death.

In the story Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to predict a lot of upcoming events in the book. An interesting quote that Steinbeck uses to tell what will happen in the story is “The best laid schemes of Mice and Men go often askew” is from a Poem called “To A Mouse.” This hints that the plan that George and Lennie have made will not follow through. The story is about two men traveling together in search for work, and when they find jobs they plan to make a stake then get out of the jobs and buy some land for themselves. Unluckily, they face some bumps in the road that spoils their plans.

“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.

One of the main reasons why George was actually justified for the killing is because Lennie had hurt others in the past and would most likely continue to do so. When they were in Salinas, Lennie got into very similar trouble when he wouldn’t let go of a girl’s dress. When George was asked by Slim what had happened in Weed he explained, “Well that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. So we sit in a irrigation ditch under water all the rest of that day. An’ at night we scrammed outta there” (42). This shows us that Lennie is trouble, brings it wherever he goes, and this is why they moved to Salinas. When at the ranch Lennie not only kills his puppy, he also breaks Curley’s hand, showing that the trouble that follows Lennie happens quite often. Lennie smiled with this bruised mouth. “I didn't want no trouble," he said. He walked toward the door, but just before he came to it,

Violence plays a key part in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice And Men, and there must be a reasoning behind this. In this essay I will pick apart some of the acts of violence that feature in the book, and try to explore why Steinbeck has included each one, how it develops the novel, the characters in it and helps him convey the key themes or messages he wishes to incorporate in his “valley of the world.”

In John Steinbeck’s well known books, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men there was a lot of savagery that was surrounded by a item or an idea that appeared innocent. There was plenty of violence in both of the books, other than that they were vastly different.

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.

Lennie and Candy’s dog are parallel. Candy’s dog is old, stinky, it cant take care of itself and he’s useless. Lennie cant take care of himself of others, and when he gets scared he holds on to whatever hes got. Candy’s dog had to be put down, just like Lennie. They were also killed the same way. “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 hurtin’” (48). In this scene Carlson took Candy’s dog out and shot him. Though Candy did not want his dog to be dead, he still went through with it. This is just like when George went to kill Lennie, he didn’t want too but it had to be