In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, there are two main characters George and Lennie. The problem in the book is that Lennie acts as a child inside a giant man's body which causes lots of problems throughout the story, and George acts as Lennie's caretaker and he tries to keep Lennie out of trouble. Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain and suffering. Euthanasia is used when a person cannot make a decision or cannot make their wishes known. For example a person who is in a coma or is too young (like a baby) cannot make a decision to end their life.In the novel, Non-voluntary euthanasia is expressed when George killed Lennie because George thought it was the right thing to do, and if he didnt then Lennie might have been tortured and would have suffered.
At the end of the novel, George was justified for performing non-voluntary euthanasia on Lennie, or in other words, killing Lennie without him knowing. George was justified for performing non-voluntary euthanasia on Lennie because Lennie would have had a more brutal and painful death. A quote from the book that supports this is, “I’m gonna shot the guts outta that big bastard myself, even if I only have one hand”(Steinbeck 98). This quote was said by Curley and it shows how mad
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They might think this because what George did may be seen as murder. Those people do have a good point, but George did the right thing because there was a high chance that Lennie would have been tortured and would have suffered until he died. The final source from the packet is that it is better to give someone a quick death rather than making them go through a slow distressing death. A quote that supports this is, “It would be better if their lives were ended without this unnecessary delay”(Source E). This quote is explaining that it is better to give someone a quick death because they don't deserve a unnecessary delayed