Did George Kill Lennie Justified Essay

Did George Kill Lennie or Did He Euthanize him

In Of Mice and Men, George Milton euthanized Lennie in order to protect him and to save him from the cruel world. “I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody'd shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself” (Steinbeck 13). Lennie needed George to be safe, but George also cared about Lennie and his wellbeing. Between George and Lennie, everyone believed that George was only there for Lennie because Lennie needed help and someone to take care of him; however, the friendship between the two men is somewhat balanced. Lennie cared about George and needed someone to look after him and George did not want to be lonely.

George had many justified reasons to kill Lennie. George believed that if Lennie stayed alive, he could have hurt more people and caused them to have to run away again. However, George knew what was best for Lennie even if it was him not living any longer. On page 106, the author writes “’No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now (Steinbeck 106). George did not shoot Lennie

If you think about when a dog is in pain or extremely sick to the point where you cannot make them feel better, you put them down to take that pain go away. George was taking away Lennie’s pain, his pain may not have been physical but mentally it was there, and it was what made him hurt so many people even if he did not mean to. If Lennie was not euthanized by George, he may have gotten in a lot of trouble with Curly. Lennie does not understand what he did wrong and may have gotten beaten to death which would have been long and extremely painful. Instead, George took his life fast so that he did not have to suffer. “...he’s jes’ a like a kid. There ain’t no more harmin him than a kid neither, except he’s so strong” (Steinbeck). This shows that the farmers understood Lennie’s mental disabilities but also understood his unexplainable