Why Is George Justified When He Shot Lennie

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.

Some people think that George did not do the right thing by killing Lennie because there were alternative options for shooting him. But, if George and Lennie decided to run away, they would be running their whole life, and if George decided to turn Lennie in, he

George was in the right saving Lennie, because Lennie would have been extremely afraid if the other men would have gotten to him. He knew he did a bad thing, and he also knew that if Curley got to him, it would not end well. Some people may argue that Curley would have shot him off the bat, and Lennie would have felt no pain. This may be true, but Lennie could also more than likely see or hear Curley coming, and fear could have swept over him. George would have also had to live with the guilt that he

Additionally, George and Lennie from a slow painful death by shooting him himself instead of Curly shooting him in the gut. George makes the right decision in killing Lennie quickly to help Lennie by giving him a more peaceful death.

The Great Depression affected millions of people in America, two of those people affected were George and Lennie. George and Lennie are migrant workers that struck a job in California. George can be described as the brains of the partnership, while Lennie is more of the muscle. In the story Lennie has a fascination with feeling soft objects. This later gets them in trouble in the town of Weed. Once they get to the job, they go months will no big problems. Until, Lennie accidentally killed The owner’s son’s wife. After this happened Lennie ran off, and all the workers went to go find him and kill him. George does find Lennie before any of the other workers, and even with the chance to escape, he shoots Lennie. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the murder of Lennie was not Justified.

When is the best time to end someone’s life? Is it ever okay to change their life without asking “why”? These questions are faced by George Milton at the end of John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men. Some might think George should not have killed Lennie since George was his friend, George should have help Lennie get away like he helped Lennie escape from Soledad when he have gotten himself in trouble. However, the guys on the ranch did not know about Lennie’s past, if they did know about his past and knew he was a wanted criminal they would have killed him right on the spot.

How do you go on living when someone you love is murdered? Possibly when you kill them yourself? Their worst nightmare? John Steinbeck's, Of Mice And Men answers these questions when George kills Lennie at the end of this novella. Some people might think that George killing Lennie was ok for him to do and that he was just protecting Lennie. However, what they don't understand is you can’t take people's lives just because you feel the need to. So, George killing Lennie is not justified. George was the only person who vowed to take care of Lennie, George would always make Lennie feel as if he was worth nothing. When George killed Lennie he took what means most to him away and Lennie will never get to live out his dreams; to tend the rabbits and live off the fatta the land.

Should someone get punished for something that was already going to happen. Well when Lennie killed that girl that was curly wife he would have gotten hung back then but they were all angry so he wouldn’t have made it that far because he would have killed Lennie for killing his property. Then yes curly could have gotten hung unless he played someone to fix it or make it look like it didn’t happen or blame George. Since George is practically family he should have the right to end Lennie’s “suffering” as they would have called it back then. If Lennie’s family wanted to they could have done that a long time ago when he was born or when he was a kid.

Santiago Vela Mrs. Case American Literature-1 6 June 2018 Questions Response With Textual Evidence (include chapter and page number) 1. Does George do the right thing by killing Lennie? Consider the advantages and disadvantages of George’s actions.

George did the right thing when he shot Lennie because Lennie did not understand what he had done wrong. His hidden strength manifested in many moments of their journey. The worst that could have been for George is seeing Lennie be killed by the ranchmen; on the other hand he had a choice of killing Lennie himself. But who is he to predict fate or take away Lennie’s life?

Throughout the book Lennie asked George to tell him about them, about how they were going to get a place and live together, they never got to do that, as life would have it, reality got in the way. The most controversial topic from this book was why George killed Lennie. It was the right thing to do for multiple reasons, the first being that Lennie was a danger to those around him as well as himself, the second is that Lennie could not survive without George and the last being that if George didn’t, Curly would

If you had the choice of doing what is in your best friend’s interest, would you consider it? What if the friend’s death was a factor? In the story of Mice and Men, George may have taken Lennie's life, but he made the decision for the better interest of his friend. He knew that Curley and his men would kill Lennie, he would suffer and/or be placed in jail. George made the justified decision of killing Lennie because it was the better choice of Lennie’s foreseen future. Therefore, George was morally justified for shooting Lennie for merciful reasons.

Moments before ,” and George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head” (106). This shot will ensure Lennie does not feel any pain and pass instantly. George was the one who took Lennie's life because he knew Curly would have wanted to cause the most pain possible based on his passive aggressive nature. An example of this “Curly's face reddened.

It has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this point, Lennie's innocence is not very accepted with the world because of his size, age, etc. He can’t really learn to change his ways due to his disabilities. Lennie can’t even understand why the bad things he has done are bad. Also, the fate he would meet at Curley's mutilated hands is enough to convince George that his only real option is to make Lennie's death as quick and painless as possible. Lennie would have died at the hands of Curly anyways, which would have been a much more painful and dehumanizing death for Lennie. He couldn't be taken to a mental hospital and in the depression, these were basically non-existent and spending a life in jail would be even more torture for a mentally ill person than death itself. George did what was right because he prevented Lennie from doing anything this terrible again, he stopped Lennie from a more painful death, and he really didn't have any other responsible

“Slim said “ya hadda George, I swear ya hadda”.”(Pg. 107) It was clear by the end of the book that George only had one way to protect Lennie from his problems, which were rapidly increasing. “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 should violently but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.”(Pg. 106) Only one thing stood in between Curly and Lennie, and that was George. Even though George treats Lennie kindly and with an open heart, his image portrayed to the other characters was still a small fighter.