Death In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck writes the novelette Of Mice and Men to show us in a vague way how death can be a relief. In other word death can become the only way to escape pain. Even though Lennie’s loss was at the hand of his best friend George, he still escapes painful death. Therefore George becomes the saver of pain. The method George used to kill Lennie illustrates to the reader, he shot Lennie while he was in a stage of joy. Steinbeck explained “Lennie giggled with happiness” (105). Right before his death Lennie experienced the warmness of happiness. Ralph Waldo Emerson states “A hero is no brave than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.” In other word George is a hero for killing Lennie with braveness to become an ordinary man with no inner immatureness. Throughout Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck begins with the details of the day’s nature. The opening

The scene of the coyote and the dog at the end of the first chapter connects to Candy’s dog. Carlson who was not a good man pressured candy to kill his dog. In contrast to George, Candy didn’t have the braveness to shoot his dog; therefore Carlson was the shooter. However John Timmerman explained “Candy’s huge regret is that he didn’t do so himself. It would have been kinder to have the dog die by a familiar and loved hand than to have a stranger drag him to his death”. In other word it would have been painless to the dog if Candy did it, since Candy is the loved hand. His regret had helped George chose the right choice. As also Timmerman continues “The same feeling motivates George as he leads the Social cripple Lennie to his dream World. For Steinbeck this act constitutes as rare heroism.” Timmerman explains that George act on killing Lennie as he leads him to the dream world is act of heroism. Only heroes can prevent pain in life or death, George acted upon preventing pain in