George And Lennie's American Dream

Some decisions you have to make in life are so difficult that we would rather not have to deal with them. George Milton had to decide the fate of his closest friend’s life. Lennie Small, a character from John Steinback’s book Of Mice and Men, is a childlike adult that George looks after. They were best friends until he accidentally killed the wife of their boss’s son. George had to decide whether or not he would kill Lennie mercifully, or let the rest of the worker's murder him.

(Steinbeck 102) Since this rabbit is part of Lennie’s imagination, the rabbit represents his subconscious thought, showing that he had dwelled upon the idea of George leaving him quite a bit. He always said he could run away and not be a burden upon George, but since George only ever helped Lennie, Lennie struggled to grasp a reality of George not being at his side. Likewise, when George finds Lennie in the woods before he kills him, Lennie expects George to yell at him and be angry about him killing Curley’s wife, “Lennie looked eagerly at him. ‘Go on, George. Ain’t you gonna give me no more hell?’

‘Lennie begged, “Le 's do it now. Le 's get that place now.”’ George concurs, places the Luger on the back of Lennie’s head, and shoots him. One of the most controversial aspects of George Steinbeck 's novel Of Mice and Men, was the death of Lennie by his friend’s hands. Many believe that George murdered him in Lennie’s best interest, yet many others believe that George was being selfish and with his act, removed the burden of Lennie.

In this episode, Curley’s wife is having a conversation with Lennie about her American Dream of an actress in a desperate attempt to cure her loneliness. She also consolidates Lennie about the death of the puppy. Lennie confesses his desideratum to tend the rabbits because he simply likes to pet nice things. Curley’s wife then makes the big mistake of asking him to stroke her hair, and Lennie being Lennie goes too far, gets scared, and snaps Curley’s wife’s neck,”He shook her then, and he was angry with her… And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.”

In Of Mice And Men, George and Lennie were very close due to the fact that George looks after Lennie. They form almost a parent and child bond. Lennie does not know his own strength and continuously kills small animals that he wants to care for and pet. Lennie not knowing his own strength is developed further when Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s Wife. Lennie was stroking Curley’s Wife’s hair to the point that she became alarmed and panicked and when she did so, Lennie broke her neck by shaking her too hard, he wanted her to stop yelling.

(Steinbeck 98). This passage shows that George didn't want Lennie to have a painful death. Important to realize, “ An’s’ pose as they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage, that ain’t no good, George” ( Steinbeck 97). In other words George never wanted Lennie to be treated poorly or be harmed, he wanted Lennie to be cared for, but since he killed Curley's wife they are no out looking for him. George can no longer protect Lennie, he rather end his life with happy feelings, than to suffer a terrible death.

Lennie’s Experiences with Animals Foreshadow Death Lennie's experiences with animals foreshadow later events because the actions with animals are negative. They show that Lennie is out of control and careless. For example, Lennie has killed mice by only petting them, which was said in the passage. Next , when Carlson wants to shoot Candy’s dog right in the back of the head, Candy is hesitant because he has had the dog for a very long time. This foreshadows Lennie’s death when he is shot right in the back of the head by George, who really does not want to because George has been beside Lennie for so long and how innocent and benevolent Lennie had been.

Curley used this as an excuse to kill Lennie. He really wanted to kill Lennie because he destroyed his hand though. Curley said he was going to blow Lennie's guts out and make him suffer and be in pain. George prevented this by shooting Lennie in the back of the head and ending him quickly. George killed lennie because if he didn’t, Curley would have made him suffer.

Firstly, Curley was going to shoot lennie in his stomach. During the story Lennie had been already a target of Curley, he got into one fight with Curley. As Lennie was talking to Curley 's wife she let let him pet her hair. Curley 's wife started to freak out, she ended up killing her. “... and then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck”(Steinbeck 91).

After finding Curley’s wife dead, Curley had a horrible idea of making Lennie suffer. George had a different idea for Lennie. In chapter five, George suggests to put Lennie in jail, but Slim, a jerkline skinner, quickly shot that down by saying that it would not be right if he was strapped down, and locked up in a cage, (5,9). This shows that if Lennie was captured, he would have sat and rotted in either a jail cell or insane asylum, so George did the only thing that was humane - shoot him quickly. George was not looking in the pathways of suffrage and pain for Lennie, but Curley was.

When George was explaining why he needed to stay away from Curley’s wife, she came in and tried to initiate a conversation, but George refused to talk to her. While George was attending to the hurt mull, Curley’s wife comes into the stalls and attempts to start a conversation with George. After a while, Curley came in and accused George of flirting with her and Curley’s wife storms off angry. Curley’s wife went into the barn and found Lennie. Lennie was panicked by Curley’s wife, afraid that she knew what he did.

When Lennie and George get a farm his punishment is not to tend any rabbits. One thing George lost hope to Lennie and killed him is when he was petting Curley 's wife 's hair. When Lennie was petting harder and harder to Curley 's wife 's head, it was hurting Curley 's wife, so Curley 's wife 's natural reaction is to scream. Lennie doesn 't want to get into more trouble because he already killed a puppy before touching Curley 's Wife and he doesn 't want to get into more trouble, he gripped Curley 's wife 's neck and accidentally twisted it, which caused the death of Curley 's wife. George had to kill him because if he doesn 't kill Lennie, Lennie could cause more deaths and

(pg. 22). Since Lennie is mentally challenged and can’t think fast enough, he relies on George to tell him what to do. Curley had turned on Lennie by punching him; and protect himself, Lennie had grabbed Curley’s hand and crushed with his own hand. Lennie felt bad for what he did so George

George had to kill Lennie, unless he wanted Curley to get to Lennie. Lennie was in imminent danger

George killed Lennie out of love because he knew Lennie would suffer if he lived longer. Even though the action was bad, George decided it was best to kill Lennie to protect him. He knew that if Lennie was still alive, he would suffer greatly for two reasons: Curley wanted to avenge his wife and eventually Lennie would be sent to jail. If Lennie stayed alive, then Curley would have taken him and tortured him through immense amounts of pain for a long period of time. In addition, Lennie would theoretically have been sent to jail because he would be accused of rape and