Trust 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.

George told Lennie to wait and not talk to anyone but he got bored and went to talk to Curley’s wife which he is not supposed to be tlaking to her and she started to say something that Lennie didn’t like and he didn’t mean too kill her but he is stronger then you know. If George didn’t make Lennie wait so long and give him so many restrictions then this may have never happened.

George knew that Lennie would never be truly happy without him. George knew that if he didn’t get to Lennie first, than Lennie would go to jail . He also knew that Lennie couldn’t live without him, because Lennie depends on George to always be there for him. Lennie humiliated Curley when Lennie broke Curley’s hand. Curley said to the guys around him, “‘I’m going in shoot the guts outta that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand’” (98). George knew that Lennie would be tortured by Curley because Lennie killed Curley's wife and humiliated him when Lennie broke Curley’s hand and won the fight, so George had to kill Lennie to keep him from suffering. Lennie would either in jail and suffer because Lennie doesn't have George, or be killed and tortured by Curley and suffer because Curley won’t kill him fast. George only had one choice and that was to kill

Lennie was doing it on accident because Lennie stated in the book that Lennie wanted her to stop screaming by saying “Oh! Please don’t do none of that? George gonna say that I done a bad thing I won’t get to tend the rabbits”(Steinbeck 91). This shows that Lennie did not want to cause any harm to Curley's wife Lennie just did not want to get in trouble so Lennie tried to keep her quiet. This shows that George should not be punished for killing Lennie because Lennie did it on

To begin, Lennie does not know how to control his strength and that causes him to be destructive. An example is in chapter five, where Curley's wife and Lennie are in the barn. Curley’s wife was too friendly to Lennie, that’s leads to Lennie touching Curley's wife’s hair, then Lennie grabbing her hair and accidentally breaking her neck. Curley's wife screams '" Let go, you let go!"' (Steinbeck 90). In this quote, it shows that Lennie does not know how to control his strength because if he did, he would've let go. Consequently, this cause a big conflict and a main reason why George was justified of shooting Lennie.

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

He knew that it was his responsibility to kill Lennie. He killed Lennie because he was responsible for him. George also killed him because he did not want to feel guilty or bad like Candy. George also didn’t want Lennie to have a painful death by the hands of Curley’s gang. He knew that it would be best for him and Lennie for him to do it himself. He wanted Lennie to feel comfortable and he wanted to tell him how he felt. George says “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want you to know”(Steinbeck 106). George did the right

Lennie values obedience and anything soft which will ultimately cause him to make decisions that lead to his death. When Curley barged into the bunkhouse and started a fight with Lennie, he was too scared to fight back. As soon as George said, “Get ‘im Lennie!” Lennie immediately started to attack Curley (Steinbeck 63). This shows that Lennie will look to George for guidance and will obey him no matter what. This is important because it will cause Lennie to lose control and crush Curley’s hand. In the barn, Lennie accidently killed the

Lennie would never be able to survive without George, Lennie would be miserable alone and scared.Lennie would have been tortured by Curley if George had not killed Lennie.Before George killed Lennie says "I remember the rabbits,George”.George and Lennie would not been able to get away since last time they had a head start . Lennie would suffer regardless with George even if he came to see him in prison.Lennie has no way out in this so George did the right thing by putting Lennie out of his misery by killing him.Curley would not just kill Lennie he would have made him suffer by torturing him because Lennie had humiliated Curly twice.

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,

Lennie was mentally impaired, so he did not know what he was doing when he killed Curley’s wife. He didn’t deserve to get shot in the head. Lennie definitely did not deserve to be shot by George,his best friend. In the book, George goes to find Lennie before Curley can get to him. He finds him in the brush where George told him to hide at the beginning of the book. Lennie asks if George is gonna give him hell. George responds with, “Give ya hell?” This shows that even George knows that Lennie did not know what he was doing. Lennie was an innocent character who was shot for something he didn’t mean to do.

Lennie is “jes’ like a kid. There ain’t no more harm in him than a kid neither, except he’s so strong” (Steinbeck 43). His problem is, he does not know of his own strength and does not know how to control it in certain cases, especially when he is frightened. For example, when Curley attacked Lennie, Lennie grabbed onto Curley’s hand and held on. He was so frightened he could not let go, busting every bone in Curley’s hand. Lennie “didn’t wanna hurt him” but he is just too strong (Steinbeck 64). Later in the story, Lennie’s incredible strength causes two deaths, first he kills a puppy and then Curley’s wife. Lennie didn’t mean to kill the puppy, he explained that he “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’ he was dead” (Steinbeck 87). Lennie was worried after he killed the puppy because he thought George wasn’t going to let him tend to the rabbits when they bought the farm. Shortly after Lennie killed the puppy, he killed Curley’s wife. He likes to touch soft things and when she lets him touch her hair, “she jerked her head sideways and Lennie’s fingers closed on her hair and hung on” (Steinbeck 91). She started to scream, which made Lennie panic. He tried to get her to be quiet “and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck” (Steinbeck 91). After he

Due to this, Lennie accidentally breaks Curley’s wife’s neck because she doesn’t like Lennie touching her hair. Lennie meant no harm by shaking her, but he took her life by doing so. Killing Lennie for his actions is an extreme punishment, but that is the only option that George has because Curley wants Lennie dead. Lennie would have probably keep on hurting others because he didn’t know the effect of how rough he was on

“‘’Course he ain’t mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb. Like what happened in Weed---’ He stopped, stopped in the middle of turning over a card.” (p. 41) Lennie already got in trouble once and they had to run. George may love Lennie like a brother, but I doubt he would want to keep running. If it happened once it is more than likely it will happen again. Then George would never reach his dream. “‘Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard.’” (p.85) And “Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand. ‘Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go.’” (p. 63) Lennie can break animals' necks just by petting them and can break bones in a man's body too. Lennie is too strong for his own good. He does not know how to control his strength either. It will cause more problems in the future and he does not remember things well, so he would keep making the same mistakes. It also could be worse every time he makes a mistake. “‘So you forgot that awready, did you? I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard!’ ‘I forgot,’ Lennie said softly. ‘I tried not to forget. Honest to God I did, George.’” (p.4) Lennie is a little kid in an adult's body. He doesn't have the ability to understand the things that

He does this to make Lennie realise how lucky he is to have some on that he could rely on. But as Lennie is so vulnerable he gets angry and scares off Crooks. Lennie is a person who likes to touch soft things and is vulnerable to Curley’s wife as well as she knows she can talk to someone who won’t take advantage of him. Lennie being dumb is a harsh reality but as an innocent person causes bad things to happen.