The opportunity of having a friend in such hard times is a privilege and something to be valued. In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, George, a migrant worker, and Lennie, a migrant worker, have been given the privilege of traveling around together and having somebody to talk to. Based on the 1930s during the Great Depression migrant workers are caught in an era of extreme loneliness, but George and Lennie are not. In most cases, Lennie has been causing trouble and it is George’s responsibility to look out for him. The reason for this is that George is basically Lennie’s caretaker as Lennie is mentally handicapped, and he has been taking care of him for a long time now. Lennie has inadvertently killed mice, a puppy, and Curley’s wife who was …show more content…
At another trial where a man killed his sister and his mom, this statement was made. “Anderson’s defense attorney labeled the deaths “mercy killings,” and described his client as a man who was “simply overcome” with the circumstances of caring for his ailing wife and sister”(Qtd. Serna). Killing someone in an act of love is completely different than killing someone in an act of hate. In comparison, George did the right thing in killing Lennie because it was an act of love. George did not kill Lennie because of hate or any other reason. If George did not care about Lennie then, sure enough, he would have let the other workers put him to his end. Killing somebody in a peaceful way is better than having somebody killed in a brutal, unforgiving way, and that is the decision that George made. Furthermore, Slim came directly to George and sat down very close beside him after George had taken Lennie’s life and said, "Never you mind," said Slim. "A guy got to sometimes”(Steinback 107). Based on what Slim, a ranch worker, had told George after he had shot Lennie in an act of ‘mercy’, it shows that sometimes a person is going to have to do hard tasks that are wrong, but the effect of the outcome is right. Slim completely agreed with the action that George took on Lennie. George saw that Lennie was going to be living a horrid life behind bars or have the most painful death possible as soon as the other ranch workers had found him, so before they did, George ended Lennie’s life. Killing someone in the act of mercy and killing someone for an act of hate have two completely different meanings. Ending somebody’s life in an act of kindness, and love is not unacceptable in any way and should be valued more from this point