Of Mice and Men Chapters 5 and 6 Paragraph George is justified for shooting Lennie in the back of the head because, Lennie was only doing harm to himself and others, George was saving him from a slow painful death, and Slim reassuring George that he had to kill Lennie. Throughout the story Lennie was doing a lot of harm to other people, including in chapter three when Slim said, “Looks to me like ever’ bone in his han’ is bust”(Steibeck 70). Lennie crushed Curley’s hand because Curley got in his face and hit him. Also Lennie in chapter five killed his puppy, he explained this to Curley’s wife by saying, “I was jus’ playin’ with him…. an’ he made like he was ganna bite me…. An’ I made like I was ganna smack him…. an’.... an’ I done it. An’ then