Death Or Sleep In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Death or Sleep
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck begins by describing the quaint details of a beautiful landscape and concludes the same way, with one difference-- there is one less friend. Lennie, George’s painfully dull-witted companion, is slain by George after accidently killing Curley's wife. Lennie’s gargantuan hands snap Curley’s wife thin neck in an attempt to quiet her down after flirting with him. Despite his innocent intentions, Lennie’s coworkers are infuriated, especially Curley himself. Because of Curley's blood-lust, George, Lennie’s best-friend, has a life-altering decision to make. He can either let the Curley maliciously slaughter his best friend or he can ease the parting blow himself. Lennie’s life dangles at the tips of George’s

There are two routes for Lennie-- and it’s up for George to decide which path he takes. George compassionately decides to pull the trigger of Carson’s gun, sending Lennie to tend rabbits for eternity. Though George is severely depressed by Lennie’s death, he made the right choice in putting Lennie to sleep. No matter the killer, Lennie would have been killed. Curley had wrath surging through his veins, and nothing would have been able to silence his rage. Rather than shooting him in the stomach, like Curley had intended, George sent Lennie to sleep with a blow to the back of the head. He sent Lennie away, filling his mind with dreams, telling him he’s never been mad, and letting him rest. Lennie was a burden, and he knew it. Lennie often told George he would run away and live in a cave if he was too much of a burden to George, he persisted upon it, butGeorge always rejected the idea, he wanted to keep Lennie by his