Controversial Ending In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men has one of the most controversial endings of all time. Most people that read the book will argue about whether George had to kill Lennie or if he didn 't have a choice Things are a little more complicated because George wants to keep Lennie around but he can imagine a life without him. There is evidence to prove both sides but it is never truly clear that 's what it makes it so complicated. George wants Lennie around because he enjoys having Lennie around. He tells Slim "When his Aunt Clara died, Lennie just come along with me out workin '. Got kinda used to each other after a little while" (40). For them to get used to each other it would mean that Lennie grew on George to a point where they don 't get separated even when Lennie causes trouble in Weed. He also relies on Lennie because he doesn 't want to be alone. Lennie even offers to leave "If you don ' want me I can go off in the hills an ' find a cave. I can go away any time" (12) but George quickly answers back "No--- look! I was jus ' foolin ', Lennie. ‘Cause I want you to stay with me" (13). This shows that George is lonely and wants to keep Lennie with him. Even though he wants Lennie by his side he doesn 't take his chance to run away, even with a head start on the ranch hands. If he lets Lennie go on his own then George knows that he will get into more trouble and probably get

These are the reason why George killing Lennie is so complicated he cares for Lennie so much that he has to be the one to kill him. But he also wants to get rid of Lennie since it would mean George doesn 't have to run or have to babysit Lennie. George also doesn 't want to let Lennie just run alone since he feels responsible for Lennie and Lennie would probably get into more trouble alone. He can 't just let Curley kill Lennie since Curley would make him suffer. There is no clear choice on whether George has to kill Lennie or if they can run away again. All the different choices are what