After Lennie kills Curley 's wife he is fated to be punished for his actions. Curley wants revenge, decreasing the chances that Lennie will be spared and sentenced to jail time. Due to Curley’s tendency to act violently, Curley would brutally murder Lennie to avenge the death of his wife. Lennies options aren’t good “Curley’s gonna shoot ‘im… [or] they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good” (97).
George does this by shooting him in the back of the head which is a painless, instant death. A third reason relates to Lennie's standing in life. If Lennie were to be caught, he would be locked up and treated poorly. George is justified in killing Lennie because George is protecting both Lennie and the world around him, therefore he made the correct decision. Firstly, George rightly kills Lennie so he can keep him away from the rest of society.
While the girl “struggled violently under his hands,” Lennie, instead of stopping, could not control his body and threw her to the ground, snapping her neck (Steinbeck 91). It was not until after the action was done that he realized what had happened. Curley’s wife did not deserve to die, and though Lennie could not help it, he was a tremendous hazard to those around him. Logically speaking, George possibly could have been saving numerous other innocent individuals’ lives by killing
First off George had killed Lennie, which is considered murder. Also when Lennie killed Curley's wife he could not comprehend what he was doing, until he already had done it. What George did was selfish, and he just wanted to get Lennie off his hands. If George took a moment to think over the situation he could have found a better way to handle the problem. He could've tried to explain to the men what really happened, or they could have went on the run again.
He knew that if Curley found George with Lennie, Curley would have thought that George in on the plan the entire time. This is why Curley says “You George! You stick with us so we don’t think you had nothin’ to do with this”(Steinbeck 98). Though some may say that George shouldn’t have killed Lennie only because he didn’t want Curley to do it, George knew and understood how Candy felt when Carlson killed his dog. Ince Candy’s dog was Candy’s best friend, George knew how much pain Candy went through when he had to witness his own dog getting killed by somebody other than himself.
When it comes to death it is better to have a peaceful one rather than a harsh death. In the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George is put in the middle of a desperate situation forcing him to kill his best friend in an act of mercy. After constantly saving Lennie from getting into trouble, it becomes clear that George has the best interest in Lennie. He wants Lennie to become aware of his actions, and maybe one day not be so dependent on someone to keep him out of trouble. George's actions are justified as it was better for a friend to kill Lennie unexpectedly rather than a cruel manner by Curley and his men.
As the book progresses, more and more incidents occur. Although Lennie knows his role, To stay quiet and not get into trouble, He is no longer capable of doing that basic task. So his caretaker and life long friend, George, is asked to do an unspeakable deed, to euthanize Lennie. Euthanasia is killing someone who is ill to prevent any further suffering. George has very good intentions when killing Lennie which, is why he was allowed to kill him.
Lennie’s pure strength and actions led his best friend George to kill him, so that he doesn’t get in any more trouble. George killing Lennie was a justified murder because Lennie was too dangerous, Lennie would have been killed anyways, and he only would slow George down and drag him into trouble. Lennie was way too dangerous to be kept alive, because he has no comprehension of his true strength. He was just too mentally challenged to even understand his sheer power. For example, Lennie explains to Curley’s Wife how he unintentionally killed the puppy, “I made it like I was gonna smack him… an I done it.
I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch”(96). This shows how Lennie killed Curley’s wife on accident, Curley wants Lennie to suffer. Curley wants to kill Lennie slowly. In the novel, it said “but Curley’s gonna want to shoot im’” (97). This shows
Although Lennie is accused of being the cause of Curley’s wife’s death, the dialogue between these two characters in chapter five shows Curley’s wife is equally to blame. The reader can see in this chapter, Lennie tried very hard to get rid of Curley’s wife because he knew she would cause him trouble. The book states, “Lennie glared at her. ‘George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you-talk to you or nothing.’” (Steinbeck 86). This quote is one of seven attempts Lennie made to try and get Curley’s wife to leave.