How Does Lennie's Decision To End Of Mice Of Men

In Of Mice of Men, a novel written by John Steinback, George's decision to end Lennie's life was a difficult one, but ultimately the right one. Lennie, due to his mental disability, had a tendency to get into trouble and cause harm to himself and those around him. George, as Lennie's caretaker, was the only one who could take the necessary steps to protect Lennie from himself.

George didn’t want Lennie to suffer a long painful death from being shot in the guts, or from being locked up in a cage being beaten by Curley and the farmhands, or perhaps suffer from loneliness from working on a ranch: “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch and work up a stake and then they go into town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They aint got nothing to look ahead to.” This quote describes the life that people who work on a ranch live. They have no family and no home, so they are very lonely. They make money and then they spend it, so they are constantly moving from ranch to ranch with no long-term prospects. This quote explains why George ultimately killed Lennie, to spare him from a lonely life, and protect him from a harsher fate.

“And she continued to struggle, and her eyes were wild with terror. He shook her then, and he was angry with her. “Don’t you go yellin’,” he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck. He looked down at her, and carefully he removed his hand from over her mouth, and she lay still. “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