Debating Death In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Debating Death In the history of the United States, the 1920’s did not prove to be a tumultuous period to live in. This was the case for Lennie and George, the protagonists of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. These two characters spend their days working as hired farmhands across California. Aside from working, their only other job is to dutifully watch out for one another, and ensure that their dream of autonomy comes to fruition. A hope of freedom and the chance to reap the rewards of the seeds that they sewed led the two men from ranch to ranch in search of the payment required to purchase their dream. Yet, no matter how hard these two honest men worked or how good they tried to be, the dream was always out of their reach. In the end,

Ever since the day that George almost killed Lennie by asking him to jump into the river, George promised “Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more” (40). Time and time again, George and Lennie went over another promise that they had each other’s backs, stating that having each other is what made them different from other workers on the farms and ranches. The responsibility weighed on George to always watch over Lennie, and that love and sense of protection for Lennie is what caused George to kill him. Upon discovering the death of his wife, Curley threatened multiple times to shoot Lennie in the gut (97). After having his hand broken so easily by Lennie, George was well aware that Curley would make sure Lennie died suffering. With Slim’s help, George managed to slip away to the river. He could have easily shot Lennie then and there, but he asked Lennie to look across the river and imagine the farm (105). Time was running short for George to do the deed, but he took every second to make sure that Lennie would die thinking happy thoughts. Even with the a quick, painless, and happy death for Lennie being George’s goal, there is one element of their conversation that indicates a small part of George’s action was done with selfish intent. During their final conversation, George reiterated time and time again that he was not angry with Lennie, nor had he ever been (103-104). That small action implies that George did not want Lennie to die with the thought that George had been angry at him. Perhaps George did it because he wanted to allow Lennie to die happy, or perhaps he wanted to get the guilt off his conscious and let Lennie know that he had never been angry. Considering all of this, George’s decision was done out of love for Lennie, to protect him from a much more gruesome and unhappy death at Curley’s