The Role Of Animals In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

To convince someone that killing another is never justifiable you have to put yourself in one of those positions. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night hearing the town a few blocks away crumble into flames. You family is now gathered together, glancing out the window you see the terror of the town next over. Fearing if you and your family’s town will be caught in the line of fire you become nervous. As you hear the gunshots and hysterical screaming getting louder and louder you fear your town will fall to rubbish by day break. In the situation of military ethics, killing should never be justifiable as well as in the circumstances of hunting for sport and within the characters of George and Lennie.

Animals have play a vital role in our lives since the beginning of time. Giving us food to eat and fur to turn into clothes, without

animals our civilization wouldn't be as developed as it is today. However, over hunting and killing for trophy has tarnished their lives and has caused many breeds to become extinct. Killing pets such as cats and dogs is illegal as well as hunting near extinct animals but what about hunting for trophy? In the article ‘Can the Trophy Hunting of Wildlife Ever Be Justified?’it states that “some would argue that the killing of "charismatic" animals such as lions, elephants and rhinos--or any animals--for pleasure is wrong” (Dymoke). However, many people think that hunting for trophy is acceptable because they do not know exactly what ‘hunting for trophy’ is or the fact that it is harmful. In the same article it tells us just what exactly ‘hunting for trophy’ is. “Hunting for trophy is a legal form of wildlife hunting in which "sportsmen" pay large sums of money for the right to kill animals and take home a trophy. If you're willing to pay, and provided you abide by strict permit conditions and quotas, pretty much all African animals can be legally hunted in such a way” (Dymoke). The hunting and killing of a harmful animal in the wild is not justifiable because the animal will not provide food or basic necessities for living. Many people who hunt for trophy mount their game as a dignification of their success. The animal was killed for a useless reason and the hunter just increased their rate of becoming extinct.

Every single day American troop across the world risk their lives to give us the freedom to live our lives how we wish. "War is an evil only ever justified by engaging in it to abate a greater evil” (Grayling). This sentiment belongs to the tradition known as just war, the intellectual tradition of attempting to determine how best to -- as philosopher A.C.Grayling makes clear -- weigh evils. In the article ‘Don't forget: Bombing the Islamic State will Kill Innocent People’ we are able to understand the dramatic side- effects of killing innocent people. The article states that ‘War nerves, soldier's heart, shell shock, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury are just some of the names we've given to the suffering of soldiers who have faced the very real dilemma of perpetrating the immoral in the name of morality’ (Gertz). Not only will soliders have to live with having known they killed innocent people but these side effects as well. With the taking of innocent lives, soldiers can become trained to aim not to harm these citizens and will hopefully decrease the unsolicited death during wars. Killing faultless people during war is not and never should be justifiable.

In the case of George and Lennie, George shot Lennie after being given the knowledge that he had killed Curley’s wife.

Lennie fled to the bush after realizing that he did something horrid. However, Lennie most likely couldn't be held guilty because he didn't intentionally break her neck. “George shivered and looked at the gun, then he threw it from him, back up on the bank, near a pile of old ashes” (Streinbeck 106). This evidence is important because it proves George has emotions and realizes that he just killed Lennie. With the death of Lennie, George was struck with the harshness of reality that he just killed his best friend. ‘Slim said, “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda. Come on with me.” (Steinbeck 107). The evidence within the statement proves that Slim is trying to prove to George that it was okay to kill Lennie when in reality George knows it was not. After going with Slim, George begins to feel worse and worse with what he has done. This proves that killing another human, friend or foe, is never justifiable and the actions one take to murder another could play back in their minds for

eternity.
To conclude, killing is not a justifiable act and should be illegal in all situations. The importance of saving lives of animals and people are high because of how sacred life is. If others cannot realize the effect killing innocent people as well as animals has on our culture, our society can become chaotic. Even though some may feel in certain situations killing is acceptable, if you think enough on the situation you are hit with the harsh reality: Death, do you want that on your hands?