Lennie's Suffering In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

An End to Suffering "George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head…He pulled the trigger" (Steinbeck 106). In the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie are two men who travel together. Lennie is mentally retarded and George is like his caretaker who watches over him. Lennie's disability causes him to do things he doesn't mean to do. Him and George continuously have to move because of this. When working on a ranch, Lennie, not knowing his own strength, breaks a woman's neck, killing her. At this point, George does a very controversial action and shoots Lennie in the back of the head. Today, doctors are also doing very controversial actions of assisting someone

This quote shows Lennie's inability to see what he is doing and shows that if he'd continue to live, he will only cause more harm to others and himself. It also shows his suffering due to his inability to understand. Later in the novella, on the ranch where George and Lennie are working at, Lennie is talking to Curley's Wife. When she allows Lennie to feel her hair, he grabs a hold of it. He does this because he doesn't know what to do. When she starts screaming, Lennie grabs her and covers her mouth, but not knowing his own strength, he breaks her neck. "And then [Curley's wife] was still, for Lennie had broken her neck… [Lennie] lifted her arm and let it drop… he whispered in fright, 'I've done a bad thing'" (91). Lennie doesn't know his own strength. Lennie's suffering is that he is harming other people and if he isn't killed, he will continue to harm others. Also, Lennie is suffering due to his retardation. Like Lennie who is suffering because of his retardation, many terminally ill people are suffering because of their illness. Many of those people with terminal illnesses have disabilities like Lennie. To aid those with terminal illnesses, there is something called

This diminishes his reason to live. George told Lennie that if he does another thing wrong, then he wouldn't be allowed to tend the rabbits. "But if you ain't gonna get in trouble, because if you do, I won't let you tend the rabbits" (Steinbeck 16). After George said that to Lennie, Lennie killed Curley's wife. This destroys Lennie chances to tend the rabbits or to get a little place. Apparently George knew someone who they could get a piece of land from. When they obtained enough money, him and Lennie would go and live there and make a living. "'We are gonna get a little place…an' live off the fatta the lan'" (105). Now the chances of them getting a "little place and living off the fatta the land" is really low. This is because Lennie does another bad thing. Lennie now has no motivation to live because he now cannot tend the rabbits. Like Lennie, someone may choose to end their life due to the reason that they have no cause of living. The motive for someone to die is because they may have extreme pain due to a terminally ill disease they are suffering from. "The right of a…terminally ill person to avoid excruciating pain and embrace a timely and dignified death" (Is There a Legal Right to Die? 3). Those suffering from extreme pain have the right to no longer endure that pain. They obviously don't want to have to endure that pain, so