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Lennie's Death In Of Mice And Men

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The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, tells the story of two migrant workers during the great depression. Lennie and George are like many other workers during the 30's, except Lennie is mentally handicapped, which causes many problems for the duo. When things turn for the worst, George killing Lennie was the best thing he could do. Lennie wasn't able to react to the situations he was in, he had incredible strength that he couldn't control which made him dangerous and George pulling the trigger was the only way to give him a painless death with no regret. Lennie's lack of self-control and reaction to his surroundings was one of the first things to get him in trouble. In Weed, he reached out and grabbed a woman's dress. "'So he reaches out to feel this red dress an' the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on 'cause that's the only thing he can think to do'” (41). The incident in Weed was a prime example of Lennie not being able to react to situations and causing problems. The fact that it happened more than once makes it worse. …show more content…

Now that there had been a serious casualty, Lennie's problems couldn't be ignored. Curly took the rest of the farm hands with him on the quest to kill Lennie. "'I'm gonna shoot the guts outta that big bastard myself, even if I only got one hand" (98). There was no way to escape from those men. With Curly's wife's blood on his hands, Lennie would die at the hands of Curly, but George killed him quickly and painlessly. Along with that, George wanted to be able to live with no regrets. In the parallel situation, when Candy's dog was killed, Candy wasn't the one to kill his companion and felt immense regret. With George killing Lennie, he was able to ensure that it was painless and didn't scare Lennie before he died. After the gun was shot, this was the best thing for

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1002 Words | 5 Pages

Another reason is that Lennie couldn’t survive with George telling him what and what not to do. The last reason is that if George didn’t kill Lennie, Curly would painfully kill him. Being dangerous for the people around and to himself is more than enough reason kill him. Lennie can’t control his strength, or himself.

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405 Words | 2 Pages

Lennie went approached a girl wearing a dress and unfortunately the girl didn’t understand what Lennie was doing so she pulled away which caused Lennie to hold on. The girl broke free of Lennie’s grasp and went to the police and accused him of rape and all of sudden the situation escalated. Another instance were Lennie is unaware of actions is when he kills his pup. In Lennie’s defensive, the animals look as if it’s going to bit him which causes him to hit it. However, Lennie is clueless of his strength which makes him kill his

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450 Words | 2 Pages

In John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” two men are trying to find a temporary job so that they can move out to a little farm by themselves. They stay at a ranch for a while to work and save enough money so they are able to move out to the ranch, but then Lennie strangles and kills one of the ranch-workers wifes. Lennie runs away from the ranch so they can’t find him and George winds up having to kill Lennie, himself. The first reason George decided to kill Lennie was because in their old town “Weed” Lennie had touched and ripped a girl's dress and she started screaming and acting like she was being “raped” and she ran to all of the men to tell them what had happened and George and Lennie had to run until they got out of trouble and they

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236 Words | 1 Pages

George is justified for killing Lennie because Lennie was dangerous and condemned to a painful death. Throughout the novel, Lennie kills animals. Lennie had a mouse that ended up dead because Lennie accidently grab the mouse too hard. Lennie countie to pet the mouse like it was still alive.

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596 Words | 3 Pages

In order to keep Lennie from being killed brutally. George makes the decision to shoot him in the head before the other men got to him. A reason for George’s actions at the end of the novel was to keep Lennie from being scared or in pain. When

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640 Words | 3 Pages

George talks about how Lennie grabbed onto a woman’s dress in Weed in wouldn’t let go even though she was screaming. On page 42, Of Mice and Men, “He was so scairt he couldn’t let go of the dress.” This trait made the woman in the dress panick and sent out a party of men to lynch Lennie which drove George and Lennie out of Weed. Lennie doesn’t know his own strength.

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622 Words | 3 Pages

In Of Mice of Men, a novel written by John Steinback, George's decision to end Lennie's life was a difficult one, but ultimately the right one. Lennie, due to his mental disability, had a tendency to get into trouble and cause harm to himself and those around him. George, as Lennie's caretaker, was the only one who could take the necessary steps to protect Lennie from himself. George didn’t want Lennie to suffer a long painful death from being shot in the guts, or from being locked up in a cage being beaten by Curley and the farmhands, or perhaps suffer from loneliness from working on a ranch: “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family.

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865 Words | 4 Pages

Oh, for Mercy’s Sake! Taking someone’s life is nearly impossible to justify; circumstances have to be extreme, and conditions have to be awful. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, George had to make a tough decision when he killed his best friend, Lennie, to save him from a more painful death. The story takes place during the Great Depression in California, and follows two unlikely friends, Lennie, an extremely strong yet mentally disabled man, and George, who is much smarter and the leader of the two. George and Lennie are migrant workers, and after losing their previous job, have come a ranch to find work.

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385 Words | 2 Pages

Once Curley finds out about his wife's death he angerly promises the guys that he's going to kill Lennie, saying, "I'm gonna get him. I'm going for my shotgun. I'll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I'll shoot 'im in the guts"(Steinbeck 96). If George wouldn't have stepped in, Curley was going to make sure Lennie died as painfully as possible for the death of his wife.

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743 Words | 3 Pages

“And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward towards the sand, and he lay without quivering” (Steinbeck 106).

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532 Words | 3 Pages

Curley used this as an excuse to kill Lennie. He really wanted to kill Lennie because he destroyed his hand though. Curley said he was going to blow Lennie's guts out and make him suffer and be in pain. George prevented this by shooting Lennie in the back of the head and ending him quickly. George killed lennie because if he didn’t, Curley would have made him suffer.

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1096 Words | 5 Pages

As a result, he accidentally kills Curley's wife, which prompts Curley to set out a lynching party after him. George reveals that Lennie is hiding in a brush and shoots him, resulting in Lennie's death at the hands of his best

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634 Words | 3 Pages

When Curley heard about the murder, he was going to cage Lennie in jail and lynch him. George realizes this and does not want his friend to undergo the disgrace; he takes Lennie out of pain like Candy’s old dog to avoid future suffering. George carries through with his plan to kill his friend so Lennie does not face Curley’s wrath. The option of negotiating the consequences for the murder is not possible due to Curley’s aversion towards Lennie’s strength and towering size. Curly would certainly get dishonorable revenge for their previous fight.

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986 Words | 4 Pages

Steinbeck further presents the idea of Lennie being "put down" when Candys dog is shot by Carlson. This foreshadows Lennies fate as the dog is shot just as Lennie is at the end of the novella. This could of influenced George's decision to kill Lennie, as he see's Candys dog being shot and he see's the aftermath of the effect that it has on candy. I think this will of made George's decision easier as he knows that it's the best thing for Lennie. Candy says " I ought to have shot that dog myself

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352 Words | 2 Pages

Everyday, somewhere in the world, two wild animals have been illegally poached. There are countless organizations such as the IAPF, and governments authorities that are trying to combat poachers. However, there are many difficulties for both sides. My issue is animal poaching.

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