Of Mice And Men Mercy Killing Analysis

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The only time killing is morally acceptable is when it was a part of war or for self-defense. In this case, it is up to the reader to categorize whether or not this act is moral or not. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men the theme of friendship is portrayed between two characters, George and Lennie, and ended abruptly by an act of killing.In this case the act of killing is justified or moral because of the circumstances in which this act was done.
Due to the mental circumstances in which Lennie lives and the events which happened before his death, the killing of Lennie Small by his friend George was justified under “mercy killing”.Throughout this ongoing friendship, George constantly drags Lennie along with him. Lennie is known to have some mental issues which make keeping him around even more inexplicable. These issues cause himself not to know how hard to grasp or pet things. This is a big factor in this book because Lennie does some very bad things all caused by his petting issue.When Lennie kills Curley's wife, he knows George is going to be mad,”I shouldn’t have did that. George’ll be mad. An… he said… an’ hide in the brush till he come” (Steinbeck 92) This shows that Lennie has some brain capacity to remember what George said days earlier. This little capacity doesn’t make up for the killing of Curley’s wife. George mercifully kills Lennie when “he pulled the trigger. The crash of the …show more content…

When George decides to kill Lennie himself it isn’t out of anger or rage but instead in fear of him being hurt more and knowing it would come by Curley.Murder is never the correct option, but in this case, it may have been the best option as a friend because of the possible outcomes which would have occurred in the place of George shooting

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