How Does George Kill Lennie

True friends will always protect you no matter the cost. This is a discernible idea in the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Throughout the novel, George and Lennie share an extremely strong bond, where they always have each other’s backs. Once George decides killing Lennie is the best option he tries to protect him by executing him in a thoughtful and precise way that comforts him and prevents him from feeling pain. In the end, George kills Lennie in an act of self sacrifice and true friendship.
George believes that it is best that he is the one to kill Lennie because he knows it will be the least malicious way for him to die, even if it means making a personal sacrifice. After hearing Curley’s plan to kill Lennie when he says, “I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts” (96), he knows that

George asks him to turn his head and look beyond, then says, “I’ll tell you so you can almost see it” (105). Even if this was a furtive way to get Lennie to turn the other way so he could shoot him, it still had the effect of making Lennie feel at peace and it was a way to give him hope. By helping Lennie imagine the farm they had dreamed of, George creates a sense of security and promise for Lennie, which was an image that kept him going day after day. Something else George does to comfort Lennie before he kills him is reassure him with his words, which often held the most significance to Lennie. Lennie asks George if he’s going to give him hell and George responds by saying, “I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know” (106). These words hold a lot of significance as George wants his parting words with Lennie to assure him that even though he had done numerous things wrong, he was never mad and he would never be. He knows in his heart that Lennie would never do anything to hurt anyone, and for that reason he has no reason to be mad at Lennie. In these ways, George creates peace, hope, and security for both himself and