How Does Lennie Die Ethically Wrong

When someone sees another suffering they may feel the responsibility to take matters into their own hands. Lennie Small and George Milton were best friends, but George decided to kill Lennie out of love for him because Lennie got himself into trouble. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men caused dispute on whether mercy killings are right or wrong. George and Lennie traveled together from job to job during the Great Depression. Shortly after they found work on a ranch, Lennie accidentally killed a woman. This caused his future to go downhill since he would face the consequences of being killed by those who cared for her or facing jail time. George wanted Lennie to die peacefully which caused him to shoot Lennie in the back of the head before anyone else could reach him and make him suffer. George killed Lennie out of his belief that Lennie would be happier this way, which makes it acceptable.

Mr. Henderson was a family friend of the couple, he said, “That’s how much this guy loved his wife. He wanted to make life as easy as possible for her” (Qtd. In Rivera). Not only did Mr. Wise see his wife’s suffering, but their friends such as Mr. Henderson as well. Henderson knows that Mr. Wise had no bad intention of killing Mrs.Wise, it was only to help her get out of her misfortunate situation. Furthermore, after George killed Lennie, his co-workers commented,”Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”(Steinbeck 107). George was not celebrating the death of his best friend, he was mourning since Lennie was no longer with him. George’s co-workers do not necessarily understand what he is going through since they have never truly been close with somebody. George wanted the best for Lennie, he would not have killed Lennie out of amusement and been upset about it, he only wanted for him to die