How Did George Kill Lennie In Of Mice And Men

The world that surrounds John Steinbeck's’ Of Mice and Men is cruel and unforgiving. From George Milton and Lennie Small having to walk ten miles to the ranch to the final scene, their existence is full of strife. The characters are living in the middle of the Great Depression, a period of time when much of the country was unemployed and migrants were looking for any work available. The entire setting for this story explains why George had to have killed Lennie in the end. All of the men were callous and harden, therefore they would have not offered Lennie mercy. Having George mercy kill Lennie was the best option available.

It is possible that George could have gone with other options to help Lennie. George could have hid like they did in Weed, however they would have to go to the trouble of finding work cards and a new job again which would be difficult during the Great Depression. The backstory of how Lennie and George escaped Weed was foreshadowing the future events of the story. When telling Slim what happened George states, “Well, that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. So we sit in

a irrigation ditch under water all the rest of that day.” (Steinbeck 42). It is clear that an eerily similar set of events has happened before, so George must have realized the running away yet again was useless and Lennie was too much of a liability. The same thing would have happened in the next town if he had not shot Lennie.
The characters that surround these men are all callous.

They have no families or real homes to return to. This explains why they were exceedingly unremorseful to come to the conclusion to lynch Lennie after finding Curley’s wife’s broken corpse. The only person to not have wanted to kill Lennie was Slim, who was planning to own small farm with George and Lennie. The rest of the men did not know Lennie as Slim and George did, and in their minds he was a cold murder who snaps women’s necks. Upon finding his wife’s limp body, Curley angrily states, “I’m going to get my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts.” (Steinbeck 96). Carlson then also declares, “I’ll get my Lugger,” (Steinbeck 96). There is no doubt that these men would have beaten and/or lynched Lennie upon finding

him.
There is no true answer to the question of if something is wrong or right, as both depend on a person’s own set of morals and cultural upbringing. One could present a Utilitarian approach and weigh the opposing consequences of each branching path of actions. Using this rather than personal beliefs, one could determine what was truly the best option; killing Lennie, or running away yet again. Escaping to a different town could easily present the possibility of Lennie accidentally killing or harming yet another female. Perhaps if he did hurt another woman he would not be able to escape the squadron of angry men looking to kill him, resulting in a slow and painful death at the hands of strangers. Mercy killing Lennie would completely eliminate the chance of another incident happening again. George killing him painlessly and ethically while comforting him appears to be the best option to ensure the safety of others.
No matter what, if Lennie was not killed he would have inevitably caused more problems for both himself and George. He could have easily been in turn be murdered and beaten by his fellow co workers or even from men in the next town that he makes a mistake in. George made the extremely difficult but seemingly correct decision of shooting his best friend. This ensured that Lennie died dreaming of the farm and his rabbits while feeling no pain in the end.