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Death In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Everyone will look death in the eye at some point in their life; however, it is not up to another individual to be the judge of their death. In Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, a man by the name of George Milton made the decision whether someone should live or not. Lennie Smalls has a mental handicap and is best friends with his caretaker, George, living during the Great Depression. Lennie is very forgetful and lacks the normal comprehension of a human being, which eventually gets him killed. George Milton decides to end Lennie’s life in order to save him from much pain and suffering in the future. This is an example of an immoral “mercy killing”. George should not have been the judge for Lennie’s life; thus it was wrong for George to determine whether Lennie should have lived or not. No one can make the ultimate decision whether someone should live or die. In a bedroom one night, Gigi Jordan and her severely autistic son, Jude Jordan were conversing as Jude exclaimed, “Dad bad! Dad bad! Dad bad,” (Qtd. In Rosenberg). It is clear that Jude Jordan was starting to articulate words as he was never able to do in the past. If Jude was starting to say words at a young age, it is easily possible that he could have started to articulate full sentences as he grew. Jude Jordan may have been able …show more content…

Lance had to take care of his wife as she was miserable. Maxine Anderson’s son was absolutely devastated when he heard the news, “This man has destroyed every aspect of my life. Every day that he has spent in a cell, I’ve spent in a cell in my own mind” (Qtd. In Serna). This mercy killing was not the right thing to do because it destroyed the lives of others. Just from one decision that this man made, another person had to suffer possibly for the rest of their life. When someone decides to selfishly kill another to end their suffering, they often do not think about the suffering of other

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605 Words | 3 Pages

“In the end you should always do the right thing even if it’s wrong.” (Nicholas Sparks). Even though George didn't want to have to shoot Lennie it was the right thing to do even if it seemed wrong. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men two migrant workers named George Milton and Lennie Smalls face hardships and lonely times to get their own American dream only to find all things don’t turn out as you expected them to. George made the right decision to kill Lennie because they were best friends and Lennie kept causing George trouble it was his only option.

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The trauma lead to him stabbing a man without even knowing it, which brought him to the death row. Not only does he have to deal with

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424 Words | 2 Pages

It was Georges responsibility to take care of Lennie. Aunt Clara asked George to watch after Lennie and he did for awhile but when Lennie needed him the most, he was not there for him. Why would anyone want to kill their best

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667 Words | 3 Pages

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck many hard decisions were made. In this novel two Characters George and Lennie get kicked out of their last city and travel to soledad to start their new life. Lennie causes lots of commotion at the ranch which turns people against George and Lennie. At the end of the novel George kills Lennie which raises the question if he fairly weighed all of the options and if his choice was justified or condemned. One reason why this was a justified decision is that George only wanted the best for his best friend.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

The documentary, A Death of One’s Own, explores the end of life complexities that many terminal disease patients have to undergo in deciding on dying and dignity. It features three patients, their families, and caregivers debating the issue of physician-assisted suicide or pain relief than may speed up death. One character, Jim Witcher has ALS and knows the kind of death he is facing and wants to control its timing. Kitty Rayl is suffering from terminal cancer and wants to take advantage of her state’s Death with Dignity Act and take medication to terminate her life. Ricky Tackett, on the other hand, has liver failure and together with his family and caregiver agrees on terminal sedation to relieve his delirium and pain.

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596 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays opposite personas, as George represents a smart and brave character, and Lennie acts as a follower to George, showing fear and discomfort around others. To begin, usually when you first meet someone, there is a sense of shyness. Displayed in the reading, Lennie shows he is shy when he meets Curley’s Wife, and is nervous on interacting with her. Towards the end of the story, Lennie makes a difficult decision, as he decides to kill Lennie with a gunshot to the back of the head. In George’s defense, he should kill him, as he causes so much trouble to their dream idea.

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Of Mice and Men Persuasive Essay “ Even the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. “. In the book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George, one of the main characters, has to kill his best friend- Lennie Small. He does this for a few different reasons.

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To me, this says that he knew he was responsible for two peoples deaths, and deliberately let Justine, his adopted sibling, take the death penalty in his place. I have three words to that, and those words are: what a dirtbag. I don't know exactly what your definition of a sane person is, but I can guarantee that that these actions would dethrone you from the “sane” category and move you right into the “insane category” real fast, at least according to

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For this crime to be considered euthanasia, Lennie Small would have been terribly ill with no chances of survival. For it to be mercy-killing, Lennie Small would have physically given George the right to kill him. For it to be murder George must have killed Lennie with the intention of death. A reasonable man would not exculpate himself of criminal charge for that conduct. It is your duty, as the jury, to pronounce only appropriate punishments and that I hope you return with the right

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1163 Words | 5 Pages

Survival is often introduced as a concept of endurance, persistence and perseverance, a textbook idea about simply living or dying. At the inception of human life, merely surviving was imperative and existence was something that humans fought for on a daily basis. But, as we flourish independently, as societies and as a race, the concept of survival is warped, and growth as an individual, as well as coping with everyday hardships and not just traditional examples of adversity such as poverty and destitution are prime examples of survival. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, the reader is presented with the idea that survival is not synonymous to staying alive, and moreover, that cultural and societal struggles shape self in accordance with the way we face them. Survival of the fittest is the primordial notion that only the fit have the power and strength to live, and more importantly, thrive in their environment.

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667 Words | 3 Pages

The definition of a sympathetic character is one whom the writer expects the reader to identify with and care about, though not necessarily admire. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife, a main character in the book is blatantly portrayed as an unsympathetic character. This is because they only see her through the men's eyes, who only see her as a tiresome object, owned by her husband. Steinbeck’s portrayal of Curley’s wife is unfair and misogynistic because he only displays her as unintelligent and promiscuous, never has a character have a turning point where they realize she’s more than an object, and he never reveals her true name. The first reason that Steinbeck's portrayal of Curley’s wife is unfair is that he never gives Curley any redeeming personality traits, he only depicts her as unintelligent and promiscuous.

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652 Words | 3 Pages

"Of mice and men" a novel by John Steinbeck which will be discussed in this paragraph evaluating two specific points, one of them is that George did the right thing by killing Lennie for many circumstances to be discussed later; and the second is about George was not supposed to kill Lennie under any reason because the life of every human being must be respected by every person in the world. George, seeing that Lennie did not have the ability to live on his own, always got into very serious problems and seeing that neither of them could get ahead because of those motives as you can see in the next quote: "I done a real bad thing," he said. "I shouldn 't of did that. George 'll be mad.

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Some people might think in the opposite side that George should not killed Lennie because Lennie did not mean to anything. He has done it without knowing how strong of himself. Lennie made many troubles this might be because of his disability, but this is the reason that he deserves to live. He has done many thing that make George get into trouble and It is better if Lennie has to die because of George shoot him not the other. "All the time he coulda had such a good time if it was not for you” (Steinbeck).

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Lennie with his simple mind, always gets into trouble. This time, Lennie gets himself in a bind once again, that George can’t save him from. George decision to kill Lennie in the story, was due to his responsibility, sympathy, and love for Lennie. George’s decision to kill Lennie was out of sympathy for him.

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839 Words | 4 Pages

In the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie at the end of the novel was justified. George and Lennie were best friends, and have been since they were little. They got ran out of Weed(the old farm they used to work at) for harassing a girl and not letting her go. He was just scared from her screaming and kicking. He didn’t mean to harm, or scare her.

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