Did George Kill Lennie

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George in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was more than justified to kill his best friend, Lennie because he was protecting him from all the atrocious things that were going to happen after Lennie accidentally killed Curley’s wife. George was his Lennie’s best friend and even though it was reasonably tough he did it for the greater good. George and Lennie make it to the ranch in Soledad, California and there they meet people and go through situations that by the end of the story there is only one man left. In my opinion, George was justified in killing Lennie because he knew there was no way out of this and because he just wanted to protect him. George knew that even if they got away this time that it wasn’t going to be long …show more content…

That is what he was used to was protecting Lennie. He wanted what was best for him. Some may say that there is no possible way you could shoot somebody out of devotedness but George did. Accordingly, Lennie may have gotten on George’s nerves at times and George may have been mean, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love and care for him. Even when Lennie felt distress because of something George would say he always knew he had to protect him. He says “No--look! I was jus' foolin', Lennie. 'Cause I want you to stay with me. Jesus Christ, somebody'd shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself. No, you stay with me. Your Aunt Clara wouldn't like you running off by yourself, even if she is dead.” This quote proves that no matter what, fighting or not, George would protect him. That’s all he’s ever done and shooting him in the back of the head was the only way he saw to protect him one last time. You protect the people you love and I genuinely believe that is what George was doing. He was saving him from the other consequences which would have been way worse than what George did. He also didn’t do it out of hate, but he did it out of all of the sympathy and love he had for him. George would rather live with killing him then having to live his life knowing that he could have done something to save him from what the others were going to do to

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