Morality refers to the quality of human acts by which they are dubbed right and wrong, or maybe good and evil. An action is right, or good, when it conforms to the ‘norm’, or by society’s rules. This, however, creates an escape clause, because what is the ‘norm’, and who decides it? John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice And Men, recounts the story of two itinerant ranch hands who are dependent on each other. Murder is and always will be unlawful, however, under the circumstances, George was morally justified in shooting Lennie as he did it for the greater good of his friend. Aside from the fact that Lennie has been a hindrance to George in both his personal and professional life, George ultimately kills Lennie because he loves him. At a first …show more content…
Before Curley even knew who George and Lennie were, he got defensive and got ready to pick a fight with them. As Curley walks into the bunkhouse, “His eyes passed over the new men and he stopped… He turned toward the door and walked out, and his elbows were still bent out a little.” (25). From the second Curley laid eyes on the duo, there was bad blood between them. Most problems with Curley arise because of his insecurities. To cite an example, “Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier… he avoided looking at Lennie.” (63). Curley is feeling attacked, the guys are teasing him, he does not know where his wife is, and there is Lennie giggling away without a care in the world, because of his insecurities he thinks if he beats up Lennie it will prove his manliness, but instead ends up flopping around like a fish. When Lennie kills Curley’s wife, Curley jumps at the opportunity to torture him. As Curley came to life he exclaims, “I know who done it… he ran furiously out of the barn. (96). Curley does not skip a beat, he jumps up, grabs his shotgun and all he wants is to kill Lennie. George realizes ahead of time Curley will not care that Lennie’s actions were unintentional and decides the best way to handle the situation would be to kill Lennie himself, saving him from the wrath of Curley and the other
As we journey through life, we must make difficult decisions, even when few options exist and the situation is grim. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the decision George faces after Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife is complicated, as none of his choices are good. The importance of his relationship with Lennie forces George to look at the big picture and act in Lennie’s best interests, even though the action he must finally take will result in a weight that he will carry forever.
George shoots Lennie because he sees what the other people on the ranch would do to Lennie. After asking Curley if he could not shoot Lennie, Curley tells George that, "'I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im'" (50). This shows that the others on the ranch weren't going to consider that Lennie was disabled, and Curley would try to make his death very painful. This gives George a motivation to kill Lennie: so he could make his death as painless as possible. This makes the reader have sympathy towards George. Additionally, the result of George killed Lennie, who would be the closest person to George to die at his hands, leaves George devastated that he had to do something like that to his best friend. Even though it is the best option and if I were in that scenario, the thing I would do, it understandably still makes his feel heart-broken. Ultimately, the whole book has made me feel sympathy towards George, but the ending makes me feel so much
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 began to grow furious at her for dying because of how George would react if he found out. George was left with no choice but to kill Lennie for his own
George realizes in the end of the book Lennie has done too much harm and needs to essentially go away. George then shoots Lennie in the back of the head because Lennie couldn't live on his own if he were to run away from Curly and the rest of the gang of workers coming after him. George did the right thing
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,
Curley thinks that Lennie is making fun of him when he laughs so Curley throws punches as lennie tries to explain that he wasn't laughing at him. Eventually after a couple blows Lennie crushes Curley's hand in his own. Curley refuses to listen to Lennie and again immediately goes straight to violence and attacking Lennie. Had he listened he could have avoided a crushed hand, being embarrassed and shamed because he always bragged about being a great boxer.
Due to child like qualities, Lennie is a person which would be easy prey and a vulnerable person. Lennie is a vulnerable person who is quite dumb. His has an obsession for touching soft thing and this will often lead him in to trouble. But poor Lennie is an innocent person who means no harm to anybody. When he and Curley get into a fight Lennie is too shocked to do any thing. He tries to be innocent but, when told to by George grabs Curley’s fist and crushes it. George is Lennie’s best friend and Lennie does every thing he tells him to do as demonstrated in the fight with “But you tol...
“Then Curley’s rage exploded.Come on ya big bastard . Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me I’ll show ya who’s yella”.(62)Lennie was smiling and thinking about the ranch that George talked to him about and how they would make a living out of the farm. Also, he was thinking about how there would be bunnies that he could pet and feed.He was daydreaming in the worst moment. Curley thought that Lennie was smiling and laughing at him for having a “Glove fulla Vaseline”. This part of the dialogue also tells us that Curley gets frustrated or mad easily. THey say his rage exploded, he made a tiny situation into a major attention drawer. “Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys.He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.”(26) The author describes Curley as a hatred person.He gets the wrong intention.Curley according to the passage liked to pick on others and knowing that Lennie was a sensitive fella he took advantage of that. He had fun doing this but Lennie did not get any positive output of this only negative outcomes. Curley wanted to start a fight just because he thought Lennie was laughing at him when he
In other words, Curley did not only shatter the dreams of George and Lennie, his also killed his wife and Lennie. Curley had never cared for his wife. He only cared about himself and his reputation. Curley has wanted revenge on Lennie ever since Lennie crushed his arm. By forcing George to kill Lennie, Curley did not only kill Lennie, he killed a part of George too. If truth be told, life in the Great Depression was tough, but it appeared that George and Lennie were different than the rest of the men, that they could survive because they had each other; that was true until Curley appeared.
Curley is a small man who is the boss’s son and has a Napoleon complex and he tries to act larger than he is. He’s insecure around men that are more macho and bigger than him and is known to give men bigger than him grief. “He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy.
“Curley came suddenly to life. “I know who done it,” he cried. “That big son of-a-bitch done it. I know he done it…… “I’m gonna shoot the guts outa that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand. I’m gonna get ‘im.” (47-48 online) As you can see even though his wife died, and he should care about the loss of his loved one, he just wants to shoot Lennie indicating he may have never loved his wife making him emotionless. He also wanted to watch a helpless man suffer. Curley after he sees that his wife is dead, instantly blames Lennie for her death, says he’s going to shoot him in the guts then gets everyone riled up. (47 online) Well, to start off, shooting someone in the guts would cause a slow and painful death that anyone would suffer to, and someone with emotions would be uneasy with shooting someone and watching them suffer, except Curley, he is emotionless/unemotional. From the way Curley “cared” about his wife’s death, to the the way he wanted to kill Lennie, Curley is an unemotional character in the
Curley's wife wanted to go to Hollywood and be in movies. She explains saying she met a guy that said he would do that for her but he never wrote back. Curley's wife desperately wanted to feel like somebody special. She wanted to leave her little life in her small town behind. She got her dreams cut short when she caught Lennie when he killed the little puppy. Lennie said he likes to soft objects, and then Curley's wife said her hair is soft and offered Lennie to run his hands through her hair. Once it's happening Curley's wife tells Lennie to stop, but Lennie refuses to stop and violently tugs her and Curley's wife starts to scream loudly. Lennie covers her mouth with his gigantic hand and tell her to be quite, because it will cause a dilemma. Lennie's becomes angry, due to Curley's wife is not hushing down, he accidently breaks her neck causing her to die immediately. He drops her on the floor and run to the brushes George told him to run if Lennie ever got in trouble. Lennie ended her Hollywood career with a snap of the
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.
He loses each by trying to hold on too tightly. Curley’s aim to be a respected husband/boss/man is foiled by his own limited abilities.” Although the story is more focused on the journey of Lennie and George, Curley plays the antagonist of the book. Which causes the mood to change and show the entertainment side. Curley is the school bully of the book because of the way he treats people and how they kind of just follow