Morality In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In Of Mice And Men, George and Lennie were very close due to the fact that George looks after Lennie. They form almost a parent and child bond. Lennie does not know his own strength and continuously kills small animals that he wants to care for and pet. Lennie not knowing his own strength is developed further when Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s Wife. Lennie was stroking Curley’s Wife’s hair to the point that she became alarmed and panicked and when she did so, Lennie broke her neck by shaking her too hard, he wanted her to stop yelling. He did not mean to kill her and knew he did a horrible thing that would make George mad at him. George had to think about Lennie’s consequences of this, Curley wanted to lynch Lennie but George did not

Level One of the stages of moral reasoning is preconventional morality, which is the level that is mostly under nine year olds but some over nine year olds think at. This level of moral reasoning is based off of the physical consequences of actions. The authority is outside of the individual this level of reasoning is what Lennie is on. This is shown on page 92 after Lennie has killed Curley’s wife. “”I done a real bad thing,” He said. “I shouldn’t of did that. George’ll be mad. An’... He said… an’ hide in the brush till he come. He’s gonna be mad.” (92). This shows that Lennie is a level one when judged on Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning because his actions are all based on how George’s reaction will be and if George will be mad or not. Stage one of level one Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning is Obedience and Punishment Orientation. This is the stage where the individual is good to avoid being punished and if someone is being punished that means that they have done bad. Stage Two is Individualism and Exchange. This is the stage where the individual realizes that there is not just one correct view that is handed down by the authorities. The individual realizes that different individuals have different viewpoints. Kohlberg believes that Level Two, Conventional