Lennie’s Inevitable Death Steinbeck’s portrayal of Lennie Small as the innocent, childish companion of George Milton reflects a best friendship that comes to a bittersweet end. Throughout the novel, George constantly has to put his life on pause for Lennie. Furthermore, there are numerous sacrifices George has made for Lennie. Overall, it is clear that Lennie had to die for George to succeed. In every aspect of their lives, George serves as the parental figure who is forced to put an end to what he is trying to do in order to help Lennie. One particular example comes when George is playing cards by himself. After laying out a hand for solitare, he pauses to talk with Lennie about the dream and to explain some things. At the time, “George put his cards down very deliberately. ‘Lennie,’ he said very sharply” (42). In this instance, George did not put much effort into starting his own activity, because he knew he could …show more content…
He decides the best way to ultimately separate each other would be by means of actually killing Lennie. George shoots Lennie in the back of the neck, understanding that this would be the quickest and least painful method as demonstrated earlier with Candy’s dog. Even in his final hour, Lennie’s needs are the most important in George’s point of view. After the incident, Slim attempts to comfort him by saying “‘You hadda, George. I swear you hadda’” (104). Slim, the God-like figure in this novel is expressing his understanding about what George does, and proving to George that he forgives him. Furthermore, it is essential that George cuts the dead weight off that is holding him back from prosperity. Lennie is the most apparent reason as to why he has yet to own a ranch of his own. As George constantly clarifies, “if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble” (12). He comprehends that without Lennie there to weigh him down, George could be far more