Of Mice And Men Justified Essay

529 Words2 Pages

At the end of the book Of Mice and Men, George kills Lennie with a pistol. This move was highly controversial, with some people agreeing with George’s decision, and others against it. I feel that George’s choice was justified because it protected Lennie, Lennie was a burden, and Lennie suffered terrible treatment during this time period. To start, Lennie deserved to have a peaceful death. If Curley got to him before George did, Lennie would have be tortured while he slowly died. He said, “I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big [...] myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts.” Also, the rest of the group was looking for him. They would eventually find Lennie because he can’t hide well on his own. If they found him, he would probably have died …show more content…

Lennie always got them into trouble. For example, in Weed, Lennie made the men of the town go after them when he grabbed on to the girl’s red dress. Also, in the beginning of the book, George grew furious with Lennie when he repeatedly asked for ketchup. He said, “Well, we ain’t got any, whatever we ain’t go, that’s what you want [...] if I was alone I could live so easy. I could get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble.” Lennie obviously grinds George’s gears often, because George got mad at him several times throughout the beginning. George has to take complete care of him by giving him food, talking to others like the boss and Curley for him, and telling him what to do. One last justification for George killing Lennie is the mistreatment of people like Lennie. It’s safe to say that Lennie was treated like a dog in this book. Steinbeck even made a direct comparison of him to a terrier by writing, “Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master.” This leads to the prejudice that people would treat like he wasn’t human. Also, George had to lie to the boss at the farm and say Lennie got kicked in the head by a horse because if he found out Lennie had a disability, Lennie would be kicked out. People back then thought people with disabilities had no use whatsoever. Lennie can’t seek help from mental facilities either. These homes during this time period were basically

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