The social contract is the idea of trusting others in exchange for general security. Friendship is another term used to describe the social contract. The social contract allows for a better more peaceful society until someone breaks the contract. In the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck two men are searching for jobs during the Great Depression. The book describes one who is mentally challenged, Lennie, and another one who cares for Lennie, named George.
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. Since Lennie has a mental disability he is unaware of the situations he gets himself into. He does not realize the amount of strength he has nor the consequences of his actions. Lennie is always attracted to petting soft things such as mice or puppies. Due to his touch being so heavy, he often kills the animals on accident.
If George had decided to run off once again with Lennie before the angry mob found them, what good would he really be doing? The pair had a history of running away and starting over someplace new each time Lennie caused trouble, and to continue this cycle would encourage the danger of future sufferers of Lennie’s unpredictability. While it is not for certain that the same situation would have happened again, the fact of the matter is that Lennie lacked the mental capacity to know his rights from wrongs and when to stop. This is apparent in the moments leading up to Lennie killing Curley’s wife. 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).
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.
In the movie, Lennie has no hallucinations of his Aunt Clara and of a giant rabbit. Instead George just so happens to call Lennie’s name and he shows up coming up the river. 4. In the novel, George takes a longer amount of time to shoot Lennie then he does in the movie. In the novel George hesitates several times on whether to shot Lennie or not.
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.
Lennie´s mental disabilities and psychotic tendencies prevented him from acting like a human. Someone that kills people certainly does not fit in society, especially if that person is mentally disabled and does not control his actions. Lennie only needed hair to kill an innocent woman. Along his life, he would run into several women with long hair, making every woman with long hair and a dress in danger. It would not be rare to suppose that Lennie would keep assassinating innocent people.
George is about to kill Lennie and end the complications in both Lennie and George's minds. Lennie and George act as a foil to each other and now this
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.