Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a novella about the American Dream two friends have. The novel describes the lifestyle of two poor workers who have long-term plans to live a happy and successful life on a farm ranch. Steinbeck demonstrates in this novella that sometimes to get to the ultimate destination, there can always be a bumpy road along the way. In the novel, there were several examples of actions with good intentions giving tragic outcomes. Those are examples of bumps on the road. Of Mice and Men shows that a person’s actions may not always coincide with their intentions. The first example of actions not matching their intentions is how Curley’s efforts to show affection always give him the opposite outcome of what he wanted. Curley’s wife …show more content…
George’s decision to kill Lennie was ultimately for his benefit. “The hand shook violently, but his (George) face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). The quote which states how Lennie dies also shows that George was nervous and hesitant in killing Lennie. Scarseth explains in the article, “Friendship. Love. That too is what Of Mice and Men is all about. Lennie and George, disparate types, are all against good reason, friends. They share a good dream. They love one another” (Scarseth 3). 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
One reason as to why George did not murder Lennie is that George had thought about what he was going to do to Lennie. He did not do it out of cold blood or out of hatred for Lennie. This is clear on page 105, when the text states,
One reason George should not have killed Lennie is because Lennie did not know what he was doing to Curley’s wife. Steinbeck writes, “… and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish” (91). Lennie was trying to calm her down to make her stop
Killing Lennie was never something to cross George’s mind, but to keep Lennie from suffering that's exactly what he had to do. John Steinbeck, the author of Mice and Men, wanted to show the extreme difficulties that some loved ones may face in extreme situations, such as the situation between George and Lennie. George had to take care of Lennie on a daily basis and was always having to bail him out of problems that he caused for himself because of his mental state. These problems didn’t help George’s situation of trying to get enough money to get his own land because he was always having to leave good jobs because of Lennie. Before Lennie made the worst mistake and sealed his fate, George and Lennie were doing well at their new job.
Ultimately, George should have killed Lennie because he had a history of violence, he was mentally unstable, and he didn’t know how to take care of himself. First, Lennie had a history with violence. He started off with killing the mice, then the girls dress. “Hell no. He just scared her.
This drastic decision was an immense burden on George and complicated his actions. George couldn’t bring himself to shoot Lennie; it was like he was fighting an internal battle: “George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again” (Steinbeck 106). This demonstrates that George didn’t shoot Lennie in a brutal or spiteful way. George purposely had Lennie think of peaceful thoughts to put Lennie at ease. He also shoots Lennie in the head instead of somewhere more painful, like his stomach.
Sydney Votino Mrs. Daquelente English 2 12 May 2023 Formal Outline: Cause-and-Effect Essay Thesis: Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and Crooks are characters from John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men who struggles with mental issues, being used, and racism leading to broken dreams that negatively impacted their lives. Body Topic A: To begin, Lennie’s experience with mental issues ruined his dream and drastically changed his hopes for the future. Direct Quote
There are many different justifications one could come up with regarding George killing Lennie at the end of Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. 1. George knows that if Curley and the other men find Lennie that they will kill him. George also knows that Curley is still angry with Lennie for breaking his hand and that Curley will not be killing Lennie as a "sympathy" killing. Instead, Curley will, instead, kill Lennie as an act of revenge.
Curley decreed that if Lennie was found to shoot him in the stomach and let his guts spill out. This would make his death long and painful. George couldn’t bear to watch Lennie being tortured by the workers like this so he pulled out Carlson’s Luger and placed a bullet into his head, ending his life in the quickest way possible. All in all, George’s decision to kill Lennie was justified by the fact that George was Lennie’s keeper, there was no possible way to save Lennie, and he didn’t want Lennie’s death to be slow and
Before George killed Lennie, he made Lennie feel even worse about himself and said, “I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn't have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl” (120). George made Lennie feel even more guilty throughout the story, and this has a lot to do with Lennie’s behavior. Lennie never really had support from George, and he was already dealing with a mental disorder. So, on top of that, Lennie could never feel any sense of belonging, which led to his poor decisions, which then led to George having to kill him, before he was killed by
Knowing that Lennie would get a painful and merciless death for killing a woman, George makes the decision to kill his best friend by a shot in the head, a quick and merciful death. When George kills Lennie, he does it to spare him from the suffering he would have endured if Curley / the other villagers had gotten to him first. Moreover, he also did it for not living with the regret that someone else had killed his friend in such a way that he had been in a lot of pain in his final minutes. In addition, George probably felt like he would not lose his mental dignity and pride by killing Lennie, his best friend,
Some may even say George killed his friend in attempt to rid himself the burden of Lennie, or protect himself from trouble, but this is a senseless claim. George cared for Lennie in both a friendly and protective manner. George was looking out for Lennie, and only hoped for the best with him. It is unfair to claim George had such a hatred towards Lennie, when it so clearly shows George’s affection towards him. John Steinbeck shows how George is accepting of Lennie, despite everything he has done when he writes, “No, Lennie.
In conclusion, George is nicely making Lennie feel better, so when he kills him, he won 't have fear or sadness in his heart. This is a reason why George is justified in killing Lennie, because not only is he doing out of love for Lennie, he is doing it the nicest he can do it. Unfortunately Lennie and George, their dreams for the future, their friendship, and the tragedy resulting from Lennie 's inability to control his
I think George killed Lennie because he knew it was the right thing to do. It’s obvious that Lennie has a mental illness and it makes it difficult for him to understand things. For example, when he grabbed the lady’s red dress in Weed, he didn’t realize he was doing anything wrong. He also didn’t realize that touching Curley’s wife’s hair was wrong until he accidentally murdered her. The bad things he does are unintentional, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t wrong.
George did the right thing by killing Lennie because it was the best thing for Lennie and for everyone else. George was trying to shield Lennie from excruciating pain and therefore gave him most painless death possible. If Curley had killed him it would’ve been
In the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie at the end of the novel was justified. George and Lennie were best friends, and have been since they were little. They got ran out of Weed(the old farm they used to work at) for harassing a girl and not letting her go. He was just scared from her screaming and kicking. He didn’t mean to harm, or scare her.