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The theme of mice and men
The theme of mice and men
The theme of mice and men
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Would you be able to kill your lifelong companion? George Milton had to make that choice in John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men. After a whole bunch of misadventures with his mentally handicapped giant, Lennie Small. Lennie accidently murdered a woman out of innocence. While the ranch men search for Lennie, George made the decision to give Lennie a merciful death. I believe that George should have killed Lennie because he would have been put in an institution, Curley would have been cruel to him, and George had to give him a merciful death. One of the reasons why George should have killed Lennie is to keep him out of an institution. It is clearly not on the bright side for Lennie to be put in an institution. This is backed by Slim saying
George also knew that Lennie had dug a hole for himself and could never get out. He knew they were looking for Lennie and wouldn’t stop until they killed him. He decided to do it himself in the kindest way he could. It’s like when Candy said about his dog, “I should of shot that dog myself.'; meaning it would have been kinder to the dog. Lennie was lying down, facing away from George and didn’t know he was going to be shot. He didn’t know what was going to happen, just like Candy’s dog.
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.
George felt though an extremely difficult choice, killing Lennie himself was the right decision. Curley was gonna get his revenge and George did not want that because he did not want Lennie to die painfully. “‘I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts.’”(Steinbeck 96). When Lennie killed Curley’s wife, Curley wanted to give him the most painful death. Curley wanted to shoot Lennie in the stomach which wouldn’t kill you at first, Instead you would bleed out slowly and painfully. George didn’t want Lennie to suffer so he knew he had to get to Lennie before Curley did and kill Lennie the fastest and least painful death he could which he did. Lennie would be arrested and thrown in jail for
Although Lennie was unattractive and has the tendency of accidental violence, compassion was still something readers had for him. Steinbeck constantly reminded us that he has a mental disability which automatically makes someone feel pity for him. Additionally he was ignored and made fun of by other characters, “Blubberin’ like a baby! Jesus Christ! A big guy like you”(Steinbeck 10). Him getting in trouble was beyond his control because of his mental disability which is something else that makes a reader feel sympathetic for him. Also, the readers are solicitous towards Lennie because of how much he looks up to George. This is portrayed when Crooks asks Lennie what he would do if George never came back, “Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?”(Steinbeck 70). Because of his inability to comprehend information, he got extremely defensive and said, “George is careful. He won’t get hurt” (Steinbeck 70). This scene is crafted in such a way that it automatically
Lennie dreams of living on a wide open ranch with George where he tends to the fluffy little rabbits he loves so much. Nevertheless, Lennie sadly never reaches his ultimate goal as his flaw finally becomes his fatal flaw. Lennie kills Curley 's wife by shaking her so hard that her neck breaks. He does not kill her on purpose but Lennie does not know his own strength. He is only shaking her like that because he wants her to stop yelling.
Was George to harsh or too fast with his decision to kill Lennie? Ever since Lennie was born he has needed help “living” and it started with his aunt Clara. When his aunt Clara died Lennie needed someone to help him with his everyday life and someone that could be there and tell him what to do. Lennie starts to travel with a good family friend George. In the book “Of Mice and Men” there is many cases where Lennie just “holds on” to George.
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,
After Lennie makes his mistake of killing Curley's wife the other characters want to brutally kill him being led by Curley but George who realises that this is a cruel way for Lennie to die and that he can’t save Lennie he decides that Lennie must have a merciful death. The reader infers when Curley says “ ‘I know who done it,[...][It was lennie].I know he done it. [...] I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun[...]I’ll shoot him in the guts’ ” ( 96). In this quote we understand that Curley plans on killing Lennie but in a more painful way than Lennie deserves. Thus George realizes that Lennie is about to be killed in a horrific way so he intervenes and kills Lennie in a peaceful way. This shows that mercy killing is to be done over the horrific way that Curley wants to take out Lenie. Because Lennie would have a much worse death than needed and Lennie could have put up a fight, George completes a mercy killing as the safest
George shouldn’t go to jail for killing Lennie, even though Lennie was completely innocent. Lennie is illiterate and ill-informed. He killed Curley's wife and many animals and to keep people safe from him would be hard. He might of had to just stay in one place all day alone, that isn't good for a human. Lennie's death could save many lives.
In conclusion, George killing Lennie was a murder because of lack of consent and Lennie was not suffering physically. In this society, people are scared of the unknown, and that is how they lived. No one realized what they were doing was wrong. But Lennie was just like everyone else, only different because of a small, mental setback. The characters did not seem to realize that Lennie believed in a future ahead of him, and that he had hopes and dreams just like them. Life is incredibly short, and no one should deserve
... to his best friend, than die at the hands of a cruel stranger. To put it in another way, Lennie was going to die no matter what, he could be happy for his last few seconds in life, or he could be petrified, and Curley was the one that put George in charge of this harsh decision.
When Richard was young he would always be the person to help out. But as he became older and more feeble, his capabilities were not as they were before. This was difficult for Richard to cope with because other people would reject his help, but this did not stop him from accomplishing his dreams. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck contains the character Candy, an old ranch worker who lost one of his hands in a farm accident. Like Richard, Candy is old and disabled and faces problems with people discriminating against him. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses dialogue to characterize Candy as a neglected, misunderstood idealist.
In ending of "Of Mice And Men", George kills Lennie after he killed Curley's wife. However, I can still feel sympathy towards George, and see his action as justifiable. In the beginning of the book I had sympathy towards George. The book starts with George talking to Lennie and from this you learn a lot about their relationship. After Lennie asks for ketchup, which they can't get, George gets angry at Lennie and says, “Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble" (6). This shows the reader that George has given up a lot to take care of Lennie. He has given up his job security and a lot of his happiness because he takes care of Lennie. In chapter 3, the reader finds out how George and Lennie started traveling together, and from this the reader can infer that George travels
Is killing someone bad if they were protecting them from someone else? What if that person was going to die anyway? is that a reason to kill them? In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George kills Lennie because he thinks he absolutely has to in order to stop future incidents. It seems like George killing Lennie was a sign of mercy. Lennie and George were friends and Curley was going to kill Lennie. Furthermore, people would think about the killing as a way out for George. He should be punished for killing Lennie because he broke his promise to Lennie’s aunt Clara by not protecting Lennie, He wanted to be alone since the beginning of the book, and Lennie had a lot to offer to society.
This is the reason what George did in Of Mice and Men is acceptable even if not liked. After the killing of Curley’s wife, Curley was mad and was obligated in his own mind to find moral retribution that would never be settled until Lennie was suffering and, after suffering, dead. This is a astonishing example of when George was obligated as primary carer and close friend to Lennie to help him pass as quickly and painlessly as possible. In a situation where someone is suffering, like Lennie, from some condition, we are obligated to help the person pass as painlessly as possible. This is why George has necessity to help Lennie pass and why mercy killing is justifiably acceptable.