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. First of all, George was not justified for killing Lennie because they could have escaped as they did in Weed. As talked about in the paragraph above, Lennie has a fascination with feeling soft things. When they were in the town of Weed, Lennie went to this girl and felt her dress. She panicked and he didn’t let go of her, so she claimed that he raped her. George and Lennie then had to escape a mob of people trying to kill them. “ ‘We run. They was lookin’ for us, but they didn’t catch us’ “(Steinbeck 7). If they could have escaped a mob in Weed, they definitely could have escape a group of ranch workers. In the book the screaming of the workers could be heard, but they still were not there.
I believe that George, in no way should be punished for killing Lennie. He did it for the right reasons and it was best for Lennie in that situation. The closure George and Lennie hot from this ordeal was better, and easier this way for both of them. This is a little bit of information on way I believe George was justified in killing Lennie.
Although the answer to this question can be defended either way, I feel that George is justified in killing Lennie. Aside form the fact that Lennie has been and will continue to be a hindrance to George in both his personal and professional life, this is not George's main motivation for carrying out such a serious deed. Ultimately, George kills Lennie in a sense of mercy. Lennie, although he may have continued on living a happy, oblivious life, would most likely have found a much worse demise. Due to his lack of cognitive skills and his unbridled brute strength, Lennie continuously found himself in situations where not only did he do something that gets him in trouble or that he didn't mean to do, but angers other people in the process. In fact, when George ultimately does choose to kill Lennie, Lennie was essentially on the run. Curly and the rest of the people from the farm were on a man hunt to kill Lennie and possibly George because of the trouble that he had caused for all of them (mainly the accidental manslaughter of Curly's wife). They certainly would not have been as nice, comforting, or humane as George was in killing him. George did not see an end to Lennie's antics, and so "putting him out of his misery" was a way to protect himself from Lennie, but also Lennie from himself.
The first reason George should have shot Lennie is because he cannot learn from the things he has done. In the book it says “Oh, so you forgot that too, did ya? Well, I ain’t gonna remind ya, fear ya do it again” (Steinbeck 7). The reasoning for this is to show how Lennie forgets things easy and how fast he forgets it. Also it shows that George has to remind Lennie
I feel one reason why George was unjustified in shooting lennie is because George basically executed him. George cruelly and harshly executed lennie without any warning. Leaving lennie helpless with no other chance than the fate George already decided for him which was death.
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,
In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie learn to travel and experience the world together as they take on a new job working on a ranch in central California "bucking barley" for the ranch owner and his son. Lennie, not being able to control his actions, hurts too many people and things and men were chasing after the two, so George decides to take action and shoot Lennie. Although some may disagree, George did the right thing by shooting Lennie because he could not have avoided hurting someone else in the future, he could not eventually learn that the things he did were wrong due to his disability, and he could not learn to eventually control his own strength.
George promises Lennie many things once they get their own farm, “’O.K. Someday- we’re gonna get the jack together… ‘Specially if you remember as good as that.’”(15-16). So George killing Lennie was for his own benefit and it was a very immoral thing to do.
The first reason why George is justified in killing Lennie is because Lennie is worthless like Candy’s dog. Candy’s dog is causing trouble for the men, and suffering while it's still alive “Ain’t nothing left for him. Can’t eat, can’t see, can’t even walk without hurtin’( Steinbeck 47). Like Lennie, the dog is physically impaired. The dog can hardly walk and Lennie has some trouble moving around. Lennie is worthless, because he does
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.
I believe that George was justified when he shot Lennie because lennie was going to go to prison anyways,Curly would have done the same thing but he would have made Lennie surfer and George did it quick and painless,the book foreshadows what was going to happen at the end of the book.
Back in Weed, George and Lennie already had to skip town because he had harassed a woman and men were searching for him. So coming to this new town was like his second chance and he had messed that up. If they had tried to skip town again there's no telling if Lennie is going to do right. Lennie broke every chance he was given and all hope was lost for him so there was no point in giving him another because he wouldn't learn from his mistakes. Some people may say that he shouldn't of been killed that they should of put him in a hospital because of his behavior. That would not have worked out because they didn't have and mental facilities back in that time period to they had no other choice but to kill
In “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck, I’m arguing whether or not George should have killed Lennie. George killing Lennie was a good idea because Lennie was always causing trouble, which made George not be able to keep a job. It was also a good idea because Lennie was going to get shot anyways, and George wanted to do it instead of having people Lennie didn’t know shoot him. The other side is saying George shouldn’t have because it wasn’t right, and how George was Lennie’s best friend. George should have killed Lennie because Lennie kept getting into trouble, and kept making George lose the job he just got. “I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. An' that ain't the
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is a compelling novel set during the Great Depression. The novel teaches itś readers about the value of companionship, sacrifice, and dreams. In doing so, it includes several examples of euthanasia, or mercy killing. At the end of the story, George has to kill Lennie to protect him. Despite the fact that Lennie was George's best friend, George did the right thing because if Lennie wouldn't have been shot by George then someone else couldve gotten to him first and made him suffer. Also, If George wouldn't have killed Lennie, then Lennie would have been locked away, frightened and all alone.
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.
other but George took care of Lennie the most, because he was always getting in