Lennie Small Murder

In the story Of Mice and Men, 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. But, in this particular scenario, this act was not murder, it was mercy. Lennie was a disabled man, he was forgetful, unempathetic, and easily frightened. Not to mention he just killed a woman. Lennie is not a terrible man, a bit disadvantageous maybe, but all the same he has never hurt a single thing with malice. He simply can’t understand what he does is wrong, he can’t 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 hard.” (Steinbeck 85)

This shows that Lenny simply isn’t aware of his own strength, he blames the puppy for dying. Not to mention he continues to stroke the puppy as if it was alive.

This trend continues when he kills the Curley’s wife, the previously mentioned woman. When she finally is killed, Lennie doesn’t react in the way a normal person would. He says to himself “I’ve done a bad thing” (Steinbeck 91). Then continues to hide a measly half of her body underneath some hay. If we trace the story back, one will find Curley isn’t on the best of terms with Lennie. Lennie is tall and full of muscle, Curley is a miniscule, scrawny man. Due to this Curley is quite intimidated by Lennie, and that clashes with Curley’s egotistical personality. Furthermore, Curley’s father is the owner of the ranch, meaning he has somewhat of a reputation to live up to. All of this leads up to Curley hunting down Lennie. While he claims he wants to kill him only for the reason he killed his wife, but it can easily be inferred that Curley has been waiting for an opportunity like this. This is where the “murder” of Lennie comes. George spared Lenny by shooting

him. It was not murder, it was a mercy killing.
Mercy killings have been a topic of varying degree for quite a while.

In today’s world, only five states allow Mercy Killings, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, California, and Vermont. Brittany Maynard is a person who actually described why she wanted to “kill herself”. Brittany decided she wanted to take part in a mercy killing by reason of she was destined to die anyways. In 2009, Brittany was diagnosed with a brain tumor and she would most likely die within six months. She believes it would be better for her to die on her own terms, and while she was comfortable. In fact, she dies in her own bed surrounded by her family. Much more of a comfortable death than what would've happened if she decided to let the tumor run it’s course. According to “Death With Dignity Advocate Brittany Maynard Dies in Oregon” by Bill Briggs, Brittany died peacefully, and on her own terms. This connects the killing of Lennie Small because George also ensures Lennie dies peacefully. George is simply giving Lennie a better

ending.
One person did just that. Gigi Jordan, pharmaceutical millionaire, did what she could. Gigi was the mother of a small boy by the name of Jude. For the first few years of Jude’s life, he was both happy and healthy. But around the age of three, he started showing signs of autism. It’s even quoted that “the Boy suddenly began to regress and reverted back to crawling” and “Lost his curiosity and became all but mute” (Rosenberg 1). This crushed Gigi. After years tolerating Jude’s disability, she decided it was enough, and that it would be better if they both died. Gigi’s plan was to feed both herself and Jude a mixture of drugs in order to overdose. This plan was quite effective, to an extent. Instead of both Gigi and Jude dying, Gigi actually survived. In court, she explains why she decided to participate in the mercy killing. In summary, Gigi decided to take both her own, and her son’s life because of the apparent abuse of her husband and she legitimately thought it was the right thing to do. While her plan was not well executed, it concept is still the same. George killed Lennie because he thought it was the best possible decision. Furthermore, it can be inferred that Slim agrees with George’s decision since he offered George a drink at the end of the story.