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Mercy Killings In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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According to debatewise.org 52 percent of people agree with mercy killings while 48 percent disagree. In the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters by the name of George fires the round of a Luger pistol into the back of his best friend’s head, Lennie Small. Without context, this would be seen as murder, as a crime. In this particular scenario, th George’s act was not murder, it was mercy.
Lennie is a disabled man, forgetful, unempathetic, and easily frightened. Not to mention he just killed a woman. But Lennie is not a terrible man, a bit disadvantageous maybe, but all the same he has never hurt a single living organism with malice. Lenny is very ingenuous, he frankly cannot understand what he does is wrong, and is unable to completely comprehend death. “And Lennie said to the puppy ‘Why do you got to get killed You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you …show more content…

The previous quote is referencing mercy killings, A serious topic of debate in today's world.There are many that think that mercy killing are wrong, that there could have been another option. But others think it’s the right thing to do in some scenarios. This can be attributed to the many people foolishly believe George was wrong to kill Lennie. Although, they only think this could be the reality of the novel due to of the false possibility that George and Lennie could have run away from Curley and the rest of the ranchmen, this simply would not be achievable. “I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-b**** myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts” (Steinbeck 96). The previous quote proves that running away was not an option. Curley is in an absolute rage. Not to mention he later gets the entirety of the ranchmen to start hunting Lennie. There simply is not a better option that what George gave to

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