The Sake Of The Future In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

For the Sake of the Future
One must decide his or her future on whether to live with their most cherished person, who is considered a killer, or to live by oneself for self-benefits. George Milton, in Of Mice and Men, pulls the trigger against his best friend, Lennie Small, who accidentally kills a woman. While one may believe that people should not murder their companions, Lennie’s mental and physical state shows that George’s decision is correct. Although George loved his friend, Lennie’s mental handicap, emotions, and accidental human killing forces George to do what he did.
Although George has the brains in the group, Lennie, who is mentally handicapped, still causes problems very often. Lennie has the body of an adult but the mind of a child. In page 11, George explains the incident that occurred in Weed to Lennie: “‘...well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse.’” Lennie enjoys

touching soft material, but like a child, he does not have the intelligence and reasoning to know that it causes misunderstandings to touch a stranger’s items. When George asks him repeat what he should do when they meet the boss of the ranch, “Lennie stopped chewing and swallowed. His face was concentrated. “I … I ain’t gonna … say a word.” (Page 15, Paragraph 2) Lennie has strong memory loss, which causes more troubles. George most likely knows that there will be more situations ignited by Lennie when George is not present. Lennie might attempt to solve the problem, but with his lack of intelligence and forgetfulness, he will only add fuel to the fire.
In addition to his unreasonability and forgetfulness, Lennie is also very emotional. When Lennie tells George about the dead mouse, “…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.” (Page 10, Before Paragraph 1) Lennie feels irritated and might have the desire to punish the mouse that bites him, but he cannot control his strength, so he accidentally breaks its skull. Furthermore, he tries to calm Curley’s wife from screaming and writhing as he pets her hair. “Lennie began to cry with fright. ‘Oh! please don’t do none of that,’ he begged. ‘George gonna say I done a bad thing.’” (Page 91, Paragraph 4) Lennie probably does not know that he is harming her, and he is afraid that George will be furious, so he holds her tighter until he accidentally breaks her neck. Likewise, he crushes Curley’s fist as George tries to pull them apart: “‘Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go.’ But Lennie watched in terror the flopping little man whom he held…George slapped him in the face again and again, and still Lennie held on to the closed fist.” Not only does Lennie have strong emotions and no self-control, but even George is barely able to keep Lennie’s power stable.
As someone who has known Lennie for a long time, George knows Lennie’s power, and knows that he has accidentally killed many mice and other animals before coming to the ranch.

“‘…That was your own Aunt Clara. An’ she stopped givin’ ‘em to ya. You always killed ‘em.’” (Page 9, Paragraph 7) George also knows that there is nothing he can do for Lennie’s mental and physical state. After they learn about Curley’s wife and meet her, George warns Lennie to stay away from her: “‘Well, you keep away from her, ‘cause she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one. Glove fulla Vaseline,’ George said disgustedly.” (Page 32, Paragraph 11) George is probably worried that Lennie might want to touch her and be accused of rape again. However, George is aghast when he sees Curley’s wife dead on the ground. He knows that Lennie did not mean to kill her, but he also knows that accidentally killing a human is still an unforgivable crime. George probably thinks of Lennie as a danger to him, to his future ranch, and to other humans as

well.
Once a person kills, people’s views of that person will change. Additionally, Lennie has a mental handicap, extreme strength, and has emotions that influence his power. George might have known that his perspective of Lennie will change. It is also likely that Lennie will unintentionally kill another human being in the future. Furthermore, George knows that people might hunt him down or not let him work on the ranches. Thinking of the future for his sake as well as Lennie’s, George decides to end all the problems in his hand, when only his group of friends know the truth and Curley, who originally wants revenge.