Loyalty And Disloyalty In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

“ Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.“. In the book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George, one of the main characters, has to kill his best friend- Lennie Small. He does this for a few different reasons. Killing his best friend was justified though, for one George and Lennie were always on the move because Lennie always messed up, two, in the end when Lennie messed up again, Curly was going to make him suffer for killing his wife and breaking his hand. Third, George had to kill Lennie because lennie would have done it again.

The words selfish and selfless are two completely different words with two completely different meanings, yet they get confused quite often. In “Of Mice and Men,” some readers may envision the character George as selfish or harsh towards Lennie, however, Steinbeck portrays George as selfless. George and Lennie find themselves in penurious situations very often. This is burdensome for George considering Lennie’s mental disability, and it should be expected that George will become infuriated with him at times. It is evident that George’s actions and words towards Lennie are selfless or caring represented by Lennie’s mental disability, his troublesome behavior, the life George could have without him, and why George kills him.

All of us will be presented with an important choice at least once in our lives. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George is confronted with a very difficult choice after Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife: let Lennie live but have him be put through the pain of being executed by hanging, or end his life quickly and painlessly. John Steinbeck clearly expresses his own feelings about this decision and the resulting actions through many characters.

What could be so terrible about a book, that it has become one of the most frequently banned/challenged books? Of Mice and Men is a fictional book written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The book has been banned in many schools due to racism, profanity, foul language, violence, treatment of women, and for seemingly promoting euthanasia. This book is usually read by high school students around the age fourteen or fifteen, however many parents have gotten upset when hearing about what their kid was reading. Many parents have stated that this book is not age-appropriate and should not be read in school. However, in my opinion this book should not be banned.

“You hadda, George. I swear you hadda” (Steinbeck 107). Slim, one of the main characters in Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, says this to George as they walk away from Lennie’s body. Slim helps George realize that he did the right thing by killing Lennie himself instead of letting someone else do it before he did. If George had not killed Lennie himself, Lennie would be facing torture from Curley, being thrown and tied up in a mental institution, and facing the fact of a recurring cycle of doing bad things.

A good friend is someone who is concerned for your welfare, who includes you in their life, and will be there for you in whatever situation. By these standards, I believe that George has been a good friend to Lennie in the novella Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. We see that on numerous occasions George does all these things for Lennie. A bad friend would not care about Lennie enough to go through all George does for Lennie. Bad friends don’t care about what happens to you and George cares about what happens to Lennie.

What would be the feelings of one who had to shoot one close to them? Would it be remorse or guilt? How about the thoughts of justified killings; is there such a thing? Two people named George and Lennie are put in a situation like this. It involves a death, two actually. Lennie killed, the farm owners son, Curley’s wife by accident. The whole situation causes George to make a life changing decision; to kill Lennie or not kill him. He makes the choice of killing him. Many people believe George was justified in killing someone very close to him, his best friend, Lennie because he would have had a slow, painful death if he had not. Others believe he was not justified in killing him. Just because he was George’s best friend did not give him any reason to shoot him. Lennie is a person that is childish, a little slow, and irresponsible adult. George is his caretaker that is responsible, caring, and a wiry person.

What comes to mind when the word loyalty is mentioned? A dog, a pet, friends or family is what most people think of when the word is mentioned. However, many would not associate the word loyalty with loneliness. When John Steinbeck thought of loyalty he wrote of deep friendships and a dog and its owner’s love. Loyalty can be associated with loneliness because by the end of a friendship or family member, someone is always gone before the other, due to old age or a medical issue that has come up. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck portrays the meaning of loyalty and loneliness by creating the feeling of love and loss between two friends, Lennie and George and an elderly man and his loyal senior dog. Loneliness and loyalty are shown through the relationships in

He is gone. Lennie is dead. He has no future. His goals never to be achieved. George pulled the trigger, shot one bullet to end Lennie’s life. This is what happened in John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men. George Milton took Lennie Small’s life. George Milton and Lennie Smalls, two migrant farmers, great friends, and companions that looked out for one and other. George has to take care of Lennie because he has a mental disability. Lennie can be very clueless and forgetful. He will also do anything George or what most others would tell him to do. He took Lennie’s life because he believed that he needed to kill Lennie in order to put him out of his misery, to be merciful. George felt he needed to stop any further harm from happening to Lennie or

The novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is a story about two men and their companionship. The story takes place in California during the Great Depression. The two men have a dream to one day own a farm of their own. This dream never comes true and they are forced to work for someone else on a ranch for the rest of their lives. On of the main characters, Lennie, is retarded and often gets him and George into trouble. In the story, the author gives many clues that allude to the fact that Lennie has a mental illness. Throughout the story, he says and does things that shows the reader of this. The ways Lennie is shown as retarded is through his childish manner, his memory loss, his incapability to control his strength, and his cowardness.

“George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head… He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). George ended up killing Lennie in fear of what was to happen to him in Of Mice and Men by George Steinbeck. George and Lennie are two migrant workers, and best friends, travelling looking for a job. They wind up at a farm where they have to deal with the boss’s son, Curley. Due to the inability to control his strength, Lennie accidentally breaks Curley’s Wife’s neck. George killed Lennie, because Curley would have killed him in a more painful way. Even though George meant well, he committed murder since he killed Lennie without his consent.

Killing another seems very unjustifiable, which might be the case but when someone takes another 's life and sent to prison, death row or capital punishment is needed to put that person were they belong. People like that deserve to die because of their mistake of killing another and it deters other people to not kill others, showing them what would happen. In the case of Capital Punishment, Hunting for Sport, or George and Lennie, killing is a justifiable act.

In the novella, “Of mice and men”, beside the bank of the Salinas river, George, who was small and quick with his companion Lennie, who was a forgetful huge man were having a rest because they couldn’t go to the new ranch on time after scramming Weed. At about ten o’clock in the morning, they came to the ranch and met Candy who had the old stink dog. Candy introduced them the guys in this ranch and had some gossips about Curley’s wife. Then they met the boss who got his

What is right and what must be done are two different concepts. Often times, life requires people to do what must be done in order to save themselves, or others, from negative consequences. The characters in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men illustrate how people implement remorseful decisions with astute intentions to help ease the consequences for those they care about.

The book Of Mice and Men is set in two different places. It begins beside a stream, near to the Salinas River, which is a few miles south of Soledad, California. It then shifts over to a ranch, where the majority of the story is set. At the end of the novel, the setting comes back to where it began. George and Lennie begin their journey by the stream. They are on their way to a near-by ranch. The land surrounding them is thick in vegetation and has its own wildlife.The ranch, where the majority of the story takes place, appears isolated and lonely. It has a ranch house, a bunkhouse where the workers live, a barn, and a harness-room off the barn.