“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. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward towards the sand, and he lay without quivering” (Steinbeck 106). This quote shows Lennie Smalls’ death in the novella, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men is about two friends, George Milton and Lennie Smalls, who move to California to work on the ranch so they can save up their earnings and get their “American Dream.” One of the characters, Lennie, is mentally handicapped causing him to not know the difference between right or wrong. Because of this, Lennie kills Curley's wife and is shot by George. Lennie Smalls, a mentally handicapped man, is shot by his best friend, George Milton, because Lennie was suffering, he was preventing George from having a successful life, and he is out of control. …show more content…
He is a man who cannot take care of himself so he relies on his friend, George. Lennie does not fully understand that he will never be able to experience a normal life, because of his mind. This makes him suffer. Lennie is also very forgetful and confused because of his mental state which makes him suffer as well. “George scoffed, Lady, huh? Don’t even remember who that lady was. That was your own Aunt Clara. An’ she stopped givin’ ‘em to ya. You always killed ‘em” (Steinbeck 9). Lennie was already suffering because of his disabilities so George put a stop to it by shooting
In the novella, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie was justified. One reason the killing of Lennie was justified is that George protected him from a worse death. At the end of the book, Curley was extremely angry at Lennie and wanted him dead. Steinbeck writes, “Curley carried a shotgun in his good hand. Curley was cold now”(97).
He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” (Steinbeck 106)This took an emotional toll because he killed his best friend. He could’ve helped him by teaching him right from wrong.
The Bond of Brotherhood “Lennie broke in. “But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”
He [George] pulled the trigger…”’ (Steinbeck 106). This is the part in Of Mice and Men when George kills Lennie peacefully. In John Steinbeck's, Of Mice and Men there are two men named George and Lennie. Lennie is a tall, large, strong, mentally disabled man, while George is a small, smart man.
I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself.” (pg.96, Steinbeck). However, George could not see Lennie getting tortured and killed by other workers on the ranch. This shows that George loves Lennie and cares about him, thus he does not want to see him get killed in a painful way.
George would protect Lennie at all costs even from himself. After Lennie kills a young woman, George decides it is better for Lennie to be dead rather than to be tortured and kept in a cell or a mental asylum. The decision of killing Lennie hit George like a train, but he knew it was something that was in Lennie’s own good. Knowing he could have an easier life without Lennie, George still kept him around because he needed George and George needed Lennie. George tells Slim “Course Lennie’s a God damn nuisance most of the time, but you get used to goin’ around with a guy an’ you can’t get rid of him.”
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
He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, ‘Get ‘im, Lennie!’” (Steinbeck 63). This quote further shows how Lennie will not take it upon himself unless George allows him to. This quote also shows how with a few words, George had convinced Lennie to finally stand up to the one who was brutally beating, punching, and bleeding him,
This means that Steinbeck thought that killing Lennie was the right thing to
When Wrong is Right At the end of “Of Mice and Men” George is faced with grim decision of shooting his best friend and family member Lennie to ease both of their future pains. George has known Lennie for mostly all of his life and he knew that when Lennie was dead their dream of having a house would be over. George then makes up his mind and shoots Lennie making him think if it was the right decision or it was wrong. In this case the decision was right because of many reasons with one being that Lennie would never be able to survive in the world that they live in.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, “but George’ll be mad if you yell (page 85).” This quote illustrates why George's decision to kill Lennie was an intelligent choice, Lennie's tendency to harm women without provocation demonstrates that he deserved to
Mental illness is one of many things that can isolate and damage a person. It can cause them to be ridiculed, it can change the lives of those who surround that person, and it can even lead someone to act against their will. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie Small is a character who, because of his mental disability, portrays many of the qualities mentioned above. Lennie’s life long companion, George, is Lennie’s protector who keeps Lennie from being isolated and lonely. However, there were certain things that Lennie’s mental illness caused that George could not protect him from.
The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a gripping tale of two men and their lives during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are two migrant workers who travel together finding work. They take on a new job “bucking barley” at a ranch in central California for the ranch owner and his son. While working at the ranch they encounter Curley the ranch owner’s son and his wife, a flirtatious woman. The story reaches a climax when Lennie unintentionally kills Curley’s wife and runs back to the Salinas River just as George instructed.
That George got rid of the burden that Lennie was to him. On the other hand, George also knows what Lennie is capable of and knows what Lennie has done in the past. For example, the thing that happened in weed, “So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do” (Steinbeck 41). Lennie panics too much and just freaks people out, so George put Lennie out of his confusion. In the end, George murdering his friend was well justified.
Lennie is huge, sweet, caring, unsmart guy in the book. Steinbeck was successful at making Lennie sympathetic because he cares about everything and will always be there for George but other characters keep sizing up to him and he doesn’t know how to fight. Lennie is clueless, kind, but forgets things easily. Others say that Lennie is useless at his job and should stay with George at all times. Lennie likes to make trouble without even knowing what he is doing.