Of Mice And Men George's Decision Analysis

As in all stories, characters are forced to make some of the toughest decisions. They must walk the line between right and wrong, a line that isn’t always clear. In the story Of Mice and Men, George Milton makes the unforgettable decision to shoot his friend, Lennie Small. While there is argument between whether George’s decision was right or wrong with no true answer, the ideas of morality and friendship play into his decision. There is also truth when saying that George did make the right decision to shoot Lennie. It is a scarring decision that he had to make, but the history, setting, and environment portrayed in this book makes this distressing choice the right one all the same.

When it comes down to whether something is right or wrong,

the situation is what determines that decision. There is legally right, but morally wrong, or morally right, but legally wrong. Time period, environment, characteristics - all have a purpose in deciding what choice may actually be the right one, when faced with an impossible decision. Just as in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn was forced to either let Jim be a free slave, or to do what was right at that time, and turn him back into his owner. Eventually, Huck came to the conclusion that he would allow Jim to remain free, even though that decision was wrong in the eyes of everyone of that time. Huck’s decision was, however, right in the sense of morality. People are not supposed to be enslaved, and it was morally right when Huck chose to not turn Jim in. The same idea applies to Lennie Small and George Milton. When asked if George’s decision to kill Lennie was right, morality must play into the answer. Legally, George killing Lennie was wrong, even if Lennie had unintentionally killed someone himself. However, morally, George was right in killing Lennie. He may not have wanted to, but he did because of the fact that Lennie was already living in pain. He was tortured by his own idea of wanting to reach that American Dream. Lennie wanted to own land with George, live off of it, and raise his own animals. In the 1920s and 30s and the Great Depression, that goal was never to be reached. George had ended Lennie’s own suffering by pulling the trigger, and his moral intentions make that decision right. Their friendship brought George to protect Lennie from the things worse than death, from the revenge Curley would have taken out on Lennie if he had lived.
The friendship between Lennie and George is another factor in determining if George’s decision was right or wrong. If, by Aristotle’s definition, George and Lennie had a true friendship, then George would not want Lennie to suffer at the hands of anyone. Just as Candy regretted allowing Carlson to shoot his dog, George would not be able to think of how he let someone else shoot his friend. George’s character could be rude at times, but nevertheless, his friendship with Lennie brought him to end Lennie’s life in the most peaceful way he could think of. It could be argued that George simply killed Lennie out of selfishness, to get rid of the burden that Lennie could be. However, the friendship between George and Lennie was not completely one way or another. The two had a unique relationship, not one based on just love or just money. If that had been the case, George would not have traveled with Lennie for the sake of him being able to keep a job.
It was also by necessity that George killed Lennie, not selfishness.

Based on the past of the two characters, they were in a cycle of getting a job, Lennie making a mistake, and moving to another job. In Weed, Lennie accidentally held onto a woman's dress and wouldn’t let go out of fear. This ultimately led to the two moving to Soledad, where Lennie yet again becomes scared and kills Curley’s wife. A vicious cycle was beginning to form from the two moving around for work, and these events could have continued on and on; Lennie would’ve eventually met a rough end. Based on the time period that Of Mice and Men takes place in, those with mental illnesses would not have been treated well. People did not accept or help those who had a mental illness, like Lennie, and would have thrown them into mental facilities. The facilities of the early 1900s were unsafe, and the people inside them were mistreated horribly. Eventually, Lennie would’ve ended up in a place where he would be tortured everyday, and George gave him the out that would protect him from the pain that society could inflict. That pain would eventually be inflicted upon Lennie, as he did kill someone, and he might have been turned into jail to be locked up for the rest of his life. It can be agreed that Lennie didn’t deserve jail, not when he never meant to harm anyone. “I didn’t wanta hurt him,” (Steinbeck 64) Lennie had said after he broke Curley’s hand. He had the innocence of a child who would never mentally grow older, leading to him constantly doing things that no one would forgive him for except

George.
Therefore, George had made the right decision when he pulled the trigger, ending his friend’s life. No other options were available that would lead to a happy ending for them both, given the environment, their personalities, and the time period. It’s the decisions that people make that define who they are, and George Milton was a good person who took care of Lennie until the end. Though Lennie’s end was sad, it was necessary, otherwise something worse would have tortured him for the rest of his life, however long that could have been.