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Mercy In Of Mice And Men

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Killing, an act of mercy

Mercy is doing something kind for someone to end their suffering. In the story Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the characters each have a sense of mercy and pity for each other. These characteristics of mercy and pity help to form bonds between the characters. These bonds are real and show that they truly care about each other so much so that they would take their lives to end their suffering. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck has the characters use acts of mercy to justify the death of certain characters and make their deaths not as painful. The first example of mercy is with Candy’s dog. In the story, Candy has a dog and this dog is disliked by everyone since it is old and smelly. The only …show more content…

In the story no one loves Lennie except for George, and as Lennie says,” I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you,”(14). Over the course of the story George teased Lennie about how he could easily leave him, but he never does. Also all the other people on the ranch note how strange it is for the two to stick together. George also shares a dream with George of buying a farm. At the end of the story Lennie kills Curley’s wife and runs away because of the fear he has of what will happen to him. George finds out that Lennie is going to be shot or locked away in a prison or mental institution, so he goes and finds Lennie. After finding Lennie he tells him the story of their farm and at the end he shoots him. This is clearly an act of mercy and love from George because he shot his only friend ,who is practically family, just to save him from the pain and suffering he would go through if he lived. Now it is George who has to suffer because he has to live with the grief of killing his best friend, regardless of whether it is a act of mercy or not, and must now live the lonely life of a rancher, without Lennie. So within the bigger picture this is how killing is used as a act of mercy in Of Mice and Men. With Candy’s dog being shot to end its suffering. Also when Curley’s wife died it put all of her demons to rest. Lennie’s death is also a huge example of killing is a act of

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