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,

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