Title Many humans worldwide suffer from mental disabilities. Guardians or relatives should be allowed to decide whether or not they should be able to take the life of a person that is suffering. During the Great Depression in the 1930s in Soledad, California, two migrant workers by the name of George Milton and Lennie Small from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck are close friends who have been travelling together to find a job. George is a ‘father like’ figure of Lennie and always looks after him since he is mentally handicapped. Lennie’s disability often makes him forgetful and he often acts like a child. He also does not acknowledge his wrong doings and his actions, which is why he easily killed a woman on the ranch. George found out about this and …show more content…
took away Lennie’s life so that he did not have to suffer.
George had set Lennie’s mind in a peaceful state before shooting him in the back of the head to put him out of his misery. It was a rational decision for George to take away Lennie’s life. George is Lennie’s guardian and caretaker and had all rights to take away Lennie’s life. In “Millionaire admits to ‘mercy killing’ of autistic son,” the woman had killed her son due to his suffering. The millionaire says that, “It was a ‘mercy killing’ to spare him from abuse at the hands of almost half a dozen people.” (Rosenberg). Just like the son, Lennie was also suffering. His strength caused him to kill almost everything he tried to pet. Lennie is also mentally handicapped, which limits the amount of knowledge that he can store in his brain. Lennie also fails to acknowledge his mistakes, which is why he keeps repeating them over and over again. George has tried to teach Lennie to not make those mistakes, but he does not remember George's words. Lennie has caused trouble in the past, which led to both being chased by the police. Lennie is suffering because of his actions and the way he acts. He is
‘childlike’ and very kind hearted, but caused much trouble for George. In the article, the woman’s son had been abused by many other people, including family members, and suffered for a long time, Just like Lennie. Although Lennie was not abused, he mostly suffers because of his ‘childlike’ nature. In “Ohio Man’s Shooting of Ailing Wife Raises Questions About ‘Mercy Killings’” a man supposedly killed his wife to save her from suffering. The man’s lawyer said, “She hadn’t verbalized anything, but I think it is fair to say he felt for the first time he was making some connection with her, and what he saw was agony, desperation and pain,” Mr. Adamson said. “And he knew that he had to do something.” (Qtd. In Rivera). Like George, the man too wanted to take away his wife’s suffering. George just wanted to end Lennie’s suffering by taking away his life. In summary, for his entire life, Lennie had to suffer because of his disability. Lennie fails to acknowledge his mistakes because of his child like nature. George has always had trouble taking care of Lennie and always said he would have been better off without him. Lennie once told George he could go away if he wanted him to, but George did not want him to leave, meaning that George deeply cares for Lennie. George wanted to do what is best for Lennie and took away his life before he could suffer even more. Many people in the world argue that taking the life of a human being is wrong. However, critics argue that taking the life of a person who is suffering would be good for them. They are also suffering from the lack of independence that they have. They do not have the ability to be independent because of their disability and their need to have a caretaker. They could also have trouble with their body, which could also make them suffer. Lennie acts like a child, which makes it hard for him to make decisions for himself. George had left Lennie alone, which is how he was able to kill the woman on the ranch. Curley, the woman’s husband demands, “When you see ‘um, don’t give im’ no chance. Shoot for his guts. That’ll double ‘im over.” (Steinbeck 97.) This emphasizes how Lennie would have suffered if Curley found him. George made the right choice and took away Lennie’s life before he was tortured for killing the woman.
Lennie's stupidity and carelessness constantly causes him to unintentionally harm people and animals. When he gets into sticky situations, George is there to help him get out of them. Ever since Lennie's Aunt Clara died, George has felt that he has a sense of duty
One important reason that shows George's actions of killing Lennie is a euthanasia is a very important reason. The reason is that Lennie can't really tell George that that he wants to die, but he actually does in a more indirect way. Lennie's mental state is very low and it would be hard for him to tell George directly and give his constant.
Lennie is broken and incomplete in many ways. He has a mental disability which differentiates him from the others. He depends on George for everything and cannot do things on his own even though he is a grown man.
1.) After lots of thinking, I have decided that George did not do the right thing by shooting Lennie. From an article written about euthanasia, it says, “ Taking someone’s life and calling it ‘merciful’ does not change the fact that you are taking someone’s life” (Fiano). This quote shows that Fiano would agree that George had made the wrong decision by shooting Lennie. Why would it be okay for someone to decide for others if they get to live or not? In comparison to Of Mice and Men, when George shoots Lennie, he does it very painless and quick. But before Lennie dies, he is trying to tell George about their American Dream. During the scene, Lennie says, “ Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now” (Steinbeck
Lennie has always been told what to do by George. George really helps him through problems that keep happening during the book. Lennie is incapable to live because he does not know his strength and George has to play the role as a living assistant for Lennie. Lennie does not mean to harm but because of his condition he essentially harms people. In the book it explains the
George kills Lennie because he did not want to witness Lennie being hurt or killed carelessly, run off by in his own and not being able to take care for himself, and Lennie’s mental disorder will never change how Lennie reacts to certain situations. Many believe taking the life of another without consent is unacceptable but in certain situations like George’s, he has to decide due to Lennie’s mental disorder that was leading him into unpleasant situations. George is an admirable character who choose to protect and do justice to his distressed friend,
Lennie was not very smart and couldn't do much by himself. He had to be told what to do or he wouldn't do anything at all. He fits all the profiles for a retarded person. He doesn't have any self-control. When he starts to panic he gets out of control and even kills Curly's wife because she starts to scream. Lennie loves animals and can't stop talking about them. He always says that when they get their own place that he wants lots of rabbits, his favorite animal. To him George is like his father figure, since Lennie never really had any parents. He is easily amused and panics quickly.
First, when Lennie sticks his head in the scummy water from the stream in the beginning of the book it shows his inability to think things through before he carries through with them. Another example includes when he grabbed the woman’s dress in Weed. He did not think it through when a normal fully mentally capable person would be able to think that grabbing a strange woman’s dress would not be appropriate. Similarly, he almost duplicates the situation except this time instead of finally letting go of the dress he accidentally killed Curley’s wife resulting in a worse outcome than the situation in Weed. Lennie is unable to think for himself in a safe and well opinionated manner, therefore, he needs someone like George to take care of him and prevent him from bad situations. However, the worse part about Lennie’s neverending trilogy of mistakes is that he does not learn from them. He makes the same mistake of killing multiple mice because he pets them too hard and never learns to be more gentle. George states in the novel ,”He’s awright. Just ain’t bright. But he can do anything you tell him.” (Steinbeck 22) This statement shows that though George is telling the boss how well he can work, he is also expressing how he doesn’t make decisions for himself and that he needs George to take care of him. George also says,” Yeah, you forgot. You always forget, an’ I got to talk you out of it.” (Steinbeck 23) This statement also portrays some of the reason he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. Lennie has a very difficult time remembering anything other than instructions that George gives him. George could not have just let Lennie go because he would not be able to make good decisions, nor could he take care of himself on his own, therefore George made the right decision to end Lennie’s
Lennie’s unintentional mistakes resulted in the sudden end for him, but was done in the best way possible. As Lennie would’ve been subjected to a life of loss, running and suffering, George correctly made the decision in euthanizing him. While contemplating whether or not to euthanize him, George knew he very well could but it wasn’t the easiest decision to make on his part. If George wouldn’t of made the decision he did, Lennie would’ve had to run for the rest of his life with no account of what happened or what to do due to his mental illness. He would’ve been seen as a criminal and hunted down like animal which is inhumane and cruel. Although his mishaps weren’t meant to be as extreme as they were, the consequences were foreshadowed throughout
About 45% of people in the 1930s believed that mercy killing was necessary for children born deformed or for people with mental handicaps (Moyers). In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the novel ends when George Milton realizes that to save his companion, Lennie Small, from his mental disability, he has to kill him. The book depicts it as a friend saving Lennie from the pain and suffering that he might go through in the future. The action should not be justified as saving him, but rather as a crime, ripping him away from his future and his life. Lennie’s death was a murder, not a mercy killing.
In the novel, Lennie faces the adversity in explaining himself to the rest of the world. Thus ,Lennie’s adversity is his mental illness which he is continuously throughout the book trying to overcome.Since ,he is mentally challenged, most people, even George intermittently, underestimates his intelligence and logic skills. At the ranch in Soledad,...
After Lennie gets into the debacle with Curley’s wife, he runs to the oasis described at the beginning of the book. George fears the men will tear Lennie apart and murder him. He also knew he would be institutionalized, or “caged” if he survived the attack. He had the moral clarity that let him see that killing Lennie was the best thing for him. When George kills Lennie, it’s a kind of mercy killing.
George understands that he can’t hide Lennie from the world forever and that the natural order of things is that the strong pick off the weak, and he will eventually have to let Lennie go. This motivates him to seize reality, meaning he had to kill Lennie, which itself was a sign of tremendous growth in himself. Killing Lennie had many effects on George; one of them being that he became one of the men he’d tell Lennie stories about. George believed that he and Lennie were not like the other migrant workers – travelling alone and spending all their earning on a whim. When George would te...
George taking care of Lennie affects his life in many ways, for the better and for the worst. Lennie's memory effects his actions because he repeats some things that he forgets that he has done in the past. Lennie’s disability is misinterpreted by others because they see him as more of a burden than a good addition to society, because of his mental disability. But other people may not think about his disability like that, they might think he’s crazy in general. Lennie’s disability affects the way he thinks because it changes what he believes, what things cause him to worry, and what things cause him to
George did not want to kill Lennie, but at the same time, he did not want him to have to suffer the horrible consequences; he knew that Lennie’s death would be beneficial to Lennie in the future. Furthermore, George knew what was best for Lennie and decided to kill him for his own good.