Death happened every day in the world, people gets killed for different reasons, and “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” (Steve Jobs). In the john Steinbeck of mice and men lots of death happened for example Curley’s wife and even animals gets killed by Lennie and Lennie gets killed by George. Lennie’s love for animals and for soft things extended toward even those things that are dead. He always ended up killing the things that he loves. And Lennie …show more content…
killed the puppy because the puppy was trying to bite him. “Lennie looked sadly up at him. “They was so little," he said apologetically. "I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead—because they was so little. I wish’t we’d get the rabbits pretty soon, George. They ain’t so little."(Steinbeck 79). “The scene shifts to Sunday afternoon as Lennie sits in the barn, contemplating a dead puppy. He has killed his pup by petting it too hard. Lennie is gripped by a growing panic that George will find the dead puppy and that now he "won't get to tend the rabbits" (Steinbeck 93). Lennie was becoming dangerous, in the weed George had to sock Lennie with the fence picket to make him let go the girl dress, the dead body of Curley’s wife in the barn is the prove that Lennie’s disability is switching from killing soft animals to soft young girls. Same thing that happened with Curley’s wife could have happened with the girl in the weed if George hadn’t heard her scream and forced Lennie to let go the girl dress. “Lennie went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her. Lennie picked it up. "I'll throw him away," he said. "It's bad enough like it is." (Steinbeck 59). And when they were gone, Candy squatted down in the hay and watched the face of Curley's wife. "Poor bastard," he said softly. (Steinbeck 112). George killed Lennie to save him from a painful death.
He doesn’t want Lennie to die horribly that’s why George killed Lennie by shooting him back of his head. Curley was so mad at Lennie that he could have killed him in a horrible way. And Curley was also looking for a way to take a revenge for Lennie crushing his hand, so George doesn’t want Lennie to get killed in cruel way so he just gave him easy death. “Slim nodded. "We might," he said. "If we could keep Curley in, we might, But Curley's gonna want to shoot 'im. Curley's still mad about his hand. An' s'pose they lock him up an' strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain't no good, George." (Steinbeck 97). Slim sighed."Well, I guess we got to get him…" (Steinbeck 93). Lennie shows how his great strength brings harm to him when he kills. George wanted Lennie to be at peace and thinking of good things when he met the end of his life instead of being afraid of being killed by people who did not understand him. It was an act of unselfish kindness at a time when people of mental illness such as Lennie, was seen as undesirable, and often monsters. Does George have the right to kill Lennie? Legally? What about ethically? What does George's action suggest about justice within the play and in the world as a
whole?
I couldn’t find a quote from the book that directly said he was doing in out of intention to give Lennie a merciful death, although it is a good chance that that was what he was doing by telling him their “dream” while being put down. (pg. 106-107) By giving Lennie a very quick and painless death, this is another way of it being merciful, even though you wouldn’t think so. Even something as little as where they were at could have affected Lennie in a great deal due to his mentality. George did the right thing by giving Lennie a merciful
Killing someone is never right. No one pointed a single finger to George for killing Lennie. They all thought it was ok since Lennie killed Curley’s wife, it is not ok to kill a person. All of them went out to drink after Lennie was dead. George did not even care, Lennie trusted George with everything. Lennie would probably be arrested for killing Curley’s wife, but he did not deserve to be killed. Lennie was a special person, he did not know his own strength. He never meant to kill Curley’s wife. George knew that but decided to kill Lennie anyways. That is not the definition of a true friend. No one accused George of anything, but instead were happy that Lennie ended up being
George felt though an extremely difficult choice, killing Lennie himself was the right decision. Curley was gonna get his revenge and George did not want that because he did not want Lennie to die painfully. “‘I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts.’”(Steinbeck 96). When Lennie killed Curley’s wife, Curley wanted to give him the most painful death. Curley wanted to shoot Lennie in the stomach which wouldn’t kill you at first, Instead you would bleed out slowly and painfully. George didn’t want Lennie to suffer so he knew he had to get to Lennie before Curley did and kill Lennie the fastest and least painful death he could which he did. Lennie would be arrested and thrown in jail for
In conclusion, George killing Lennie was a murder because of lack of consent and Lennie was not suffering physically. In this society, people are scared of the unknown, and that is how they lived. No one realized what they were doing was wrong. But Lennie was just like everyone else, only different because of a small, mental setback. The characters did not seem to realize that Lennie believed in a future ahead of him, and that he had hopes and dreams just like them. Life is incredibly short, and no one should deserve
While George is away, Lennie does something very bad, he kills Curley’s wife along with his dog; both on accident. This event causes Lennie to run away and Curley to go after him in anger to kill him. “‘All right, you guys," he said. "The nigger's got a shotgun. You take it, Carlson. When you see 'um, don't give 'im no chance. Shoot for his guts. That'll double 'im over’”(48). In the quote, it shows that Curley has no compassion or empathy. He does not show empathy towards neither his wife or Lennie and his actions. Instead, he says he is going to kill him in a painful, long way. This whole quote says so much about Curley’s character, it shows he has a poor character and bad morals; unlike George. Curley’s characterization reveals a lot about his character and how he is ruthless and doesn’t care for others not even his deceased wife. George later kills Lennie out of compassion because he is better off killed peacefully than by what is to come, Curley and his painful death. “Lennie begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now." "Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta." And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he
Because George would regret letting one of the other guys kill him, the other guys would have tortured him, and killing him would keep Lennie out of trouble. Others may claim that George did what he did just to be mean. However, in the last chapter, Slim, a character in the book, told George something after he shot Lennie. Something that I think made George feel a little bit better about the circumstances.
Was George justified in shooting Lennie? Most will say he was because Lennie truly does not have that knowledge. He accidentally killed the dog by shaking it too callous and, moreover, he killed Curley's wife for the reason that he didn’t wish for her to be loud. Lennie honestly didn’t know any better when he accidentally killed the both of them. Others would say that killing remains wrong anyways and a character shouldn’t do it at all.
Of Mice and Men: The American Dream and fate Have you ever had a dream and realized that it would not happen? In the book Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck tries to teach us through Candy that the American Dream is the desire to belong, to be wanted, and to be understood, but when reality checks in and you are hit with fate, something that unavoidably befalls a person; fortune (dictionary.com). And realize it’s nothing more than a dream.
While it is true that he never had a say in deciding his fate, he never faced any pain, and his life had a much better ending than it could have. Moments before George shoots Lennie, they are talking about the farm that they wanted to get. Lennie is worried about George being angry at him and George says, “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want you to know.” This calms Lennie, and a few moments after, George ends his life. While death is always a hard thing, Lennie died in the best way possible for his situation, at ease with himself and George. Lennie was not aware of his death, which made it less of a hardship for him, and the best way to handle the
Others may claim that George did not do the right thing because they think assisted suicide is wrong. However George put Lennie out of his misery by killing him. If he did not he would have gotten it worse.
In the end of mice and men by John Steinbeck, George kills his best friend Lennie after he gets in trouble. The big questions is, did george have the right to kill lennie after what he did? The answer is yes because of the consequences that lennie would have faced, putting Lennie out of his misery, and it would be just a matter of time before Lennie had another "accident" and killed someone else.
He makes it a point to tell Lennie what a pain he is at times, “ God, you’re a lot of trouble.” “ I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my trail.” (7). It’s true, George could live so much easier and more stable if he did not have Lennie with him. Often times Lennie will get into trouble which either gets them both fired or in the case of Weed, forces them to leave town. Lennie gets himself into big trouble when he accidentally kills Curley’s wife, George knows their dream of the farm could not come true. “I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.” (94). At this point George realizes what must be done. He shows the biggest example of love and sacrifice when he decides to shoot Lennie. In doing this he knows he is saving him from the suffering and pain Curley was going to inflict on him. The painful decision was not made with Georges’ gain in mind. He did what he thought was going to be best for Lennie. George lost his closest friend, but also saved him in a
George is justified in killing Lennie because of the multiple problems Lennie has in his life. Professor Doyal, emeritus professor of medical ethics at Queen Mary, says “It would be better if their lives were ended without this unnecessary delay” (Doyal). This quote is saying that people with mental challenges that restrict them from having a normal and healthy life should be put out of their misery. This relates to my topic because George could see the problems Lennie has to deal with. For example, he
The action that George chose of killing Lennie was the wrong decision. It is never the right decision to kill another person.George had many options in this situation but he decided to take Lennie's life instead of the other options available. Just like when Carlson was pressing Candy to put down his dog but he says he can’t because “I’ve had him to long”(Steinbeck 45). Lennie and George have been together a long time but that doesn’t affect George's decision to kill Lennie. While George was trying to calm down Lennie, he said “No Lennie I’m not mad”(166).
Euthanasia, the euphemism of mercy killing, a procedure often in the center of major ethical controversy as it revolves around ending a suffering individual's life. The process is often done to end the lives of terminally ill individuals in agonizing pain. Moreover, in the novella “Of Mice and Men” George ends the life of his friend Lennie, justifiably providing him with a path to elude from suffering w. Lennie entangles himself in situation where he is being hunted, and is on a path to a vicious and merciless death. Curly, the man targeting Lennie, is persistent to “shoot [ Lennie] in the guts”, a specific shot to increase pain exponentially. The shot will elongate Lennie’s agony, encasing his pain for an extended rather than an immediate death. His companion George perceives the dilemma and recognizes Lennie’s future holding no desirable outcome; only a less oppressive one. In relation to euthanasia, the predicament of a lack of fortunate possibilities is the reasoning for assisted suicide. Additionally, during the period of