In Defense Of Lennie's Death

He is gone. Lennie is dead. He has no future. His goals never to be achieved. George pulled the trigger, shot one bullet to end Lennie’s life. This is what happened in John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men. George Milton took Lennie Small’s life. George Milton and Lennie Smalls, two migrant farmers, great friends, and companions that looked out for one and other. George has to take care of Lennie because he has a mental disability. Lennie can be very clueless and forgetful. He will also do anything George or what most others would tell him to do. He took Lennie’s life because he believed that he needed to kill Lennie in order to put him out of his misery, to be merciful. George felt he needed to stop any further harm from happening to Lennie or

Lennie was enjoying his life and never showed that he was ever ounce in excruciating pain that he could not bear. According to Rebecca Rosenberg from the New York Times Gigi Jordan stated “He (Jude Jordan, Gigi’s son) told her Tzekov had shoved feces in his mouth, stuck needles under his fingernails, and stabbed him in the hand repeatedly in addition to sexual abuse,” (Rosenberg). In Gigi Jordan’s case the killing could have been justified as a mercy killing because her son was suffering from terrible pain and abuse. She thought it was better for her son to die than to keep having to deal with his brutal life. Abuse leading to a terrible life could be a reason to label Jude Jordan’s murder as a mercy killing. He had been tortured and was apart of a terrible life, Lennie from of mice and men was not. According to Joseph Serna of the Los Angeles times on Dec. 11, 2013 Lance Anderson, killer of Lisa Nave and Maxine Anderson, was sentenced to 100 years to life in prison. He was sentenced because the murder was not labeled as a mercy killing because there was no proof of his actions being merciful.(Serna) This what happened in Of Mice & Men, there was no proof of George’s actions being merciful because we could never see that Lennie was in excruciating pain. Lennie’s death was a murder because was never in pain he could not bear or suffer a terrible

In Of Mice & Men John Steinbeck writes “‘Well, I can go away,’ said Lennie. ‘I’ll go right off in the hills an’ find a cave if you don’ want me’”(Steinbeck 104) In this quote Lennie talks about how he could just run away, and no one would have to deal with him again. He would not get hurt, he would not hurt anyone else, and everything would be ok. This shows that there are other options. George did not have to shoot Lennie, it was a choice. There was no place for mercy. Poor Lennie could have lived on and done what he had wanted, he could have just went and done his own thing without being harmed or anyone harming him, but George shot him and Lennie can not do any of those things.

In conclusion, Lennie’s death was a murder. He was a man that could have lived on to pursue he dreams, he could tend to the rabbits. George took his life instead. Lennie was not in pain, and he could have continued a life with George. We never know what could have happened, because George shot him. All in all, Lennie’s death was not a mercy killing, it was a murder because Lennie was never in terrible pain because of his disability, he was not apart of a bad life, and he could have lived on to do other