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Of Mice And Men Mercy Killing Analysis

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“He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled back down again” (Steinbeck 106). In the book, Of Mice and Men, By John Steinbeck a middle aged mentally ill man is traveling around working on farms with his only friend George. When the men finally find a farm to settle down at and work many problems start to arise. For instance, the death of Curley's wife, and Candy’s dog. After the death of Curley's wife, for which lennie is responsible, George is placed in a difficult position having to decide to kill his friend to free him from the consequences of his actions in the near future or to allow him to live and face those consequences head on. The ever-present act of mercy killing throughout the novel shows that the use of mercy killing is wrong to do because of the effect the death has with the family or friends and the people who are forced to kill other people.
Mercy killing is an act that is morally wrong and effects the person who is forced to do the killing. In Of Mice and Men George is forced into killing his only friend, Lennie. In order to save Lennie from further pain and suffering due to Lennie killing Curley’s wife, “ The hand shook violently… George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it from him”(106). After George killed Lennie he …show more content…

Mercy killing is wrong because it affects the family and friends of the person being killed, and mercy killing effects the person who has to do the killing because it is morally wrong. Mercy killing, also known as assisted suicide, has been a controversial topic in the real world and their are many opposing opinions on the matter. Many believe that no matter the situation, life is precious and that you should not end one’s own life because it can always improve. While others believe that if one is in great enough pain and their is no way out, that one should be able to end your life on your own

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739 Words | 3 Pages

’d let you carry your own work card?” He even told people what his name was so that Lennie did not mess anything up. If also took an emotional toll because he killed his best friend so Lennie did not cause anymore trouble like he did when he killed Curley’s wife. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied.

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773 Words | 4 Pages

He [George] pulled the trigger…”’ (Steinbeck 106). This is the part in Of Mice and Men when George kills Lennie peacefully. In John Steinbeck's, Of Mice and Men there are two men named George and Lennie. Lennie is a tall, large, strong, mentally disabled man, while George is a small, smart man.

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666 Words | 3 Pages

The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a gripping tale of two men and their lives during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are two migrant workers who travel together finding work. They take on a new job “bucking barley” at a ranch in central California for the ranch owner and his son. While working at the ranch they encounter Curley the ranch owner’s son and his wife, a flirtatious woman. The story reaches a climax when Lennie unintentionally kills Curley’s wife and runs back to the Salinas River just as George instructed.

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667 Words | 3 Pages

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck many hard decisions were made. In this novel two Characters George and Lennie get kicked out of their last city and travel to soledad to start their new life. Lennie causes lots of commotion at the ranch which turns people against George and Lennie. At the end of the novel George kills Lennie which raises the question if he fairly weighed all of the options and if his choice was justified or condemned. One reason why this was a justified decision is that George only wanted the best for his best friend.

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641 Words | 3 Pages

All of us will be presented with an important choice at least once in our lives. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George is confronted with a very difficult choice after Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife: let Lennie live but have him be put through the pain of being executed by hanging, or end his life quickly and painlessly. John Steinbeck clearly expresses his own feelings about this decision and the resulting actions through many characters. Steinbeck first portrays his feelings through George when he discovers Curley’s wife’s body. “I should of knew.

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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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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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1037 Words | 5 Pages

According to debatewise.org 52 percent of people agree with mercy killings while 48 percent disagree. In the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters by the name of George fires the round of a Luger pistol into the back of his best friend’s head, Lennie Small. Without context, this would be seen as murder, as a crime. In this particular scenario, th George’s act was not murder, it was mercy.

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When George realized this he killed Lennie peacefully before the ranchmen could hurt him. George was justified in killing Lennie because if he wouldn 't have Curly and the other ranch men would have made Lennie 's death very painful while George killed Lennie nice and peacefully without pain. In the book Of Mice and Men there is an example of euthanasia, when

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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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Of Mice and Men Epilogue There was an eerie silence that flowed through the bunk house. The dust settled on the table, cards set up for solitaire. The whitewashed walls seemed to turn greyer every minute that passed. The room seemed to be growing bigger making the men feel tiny.

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652 Words | 3 Pages

"Of mice and men" a novel by John Steinbeck which will be discussed in this paragraph evaluating two specific points, one of them is that George did the right thing by killing Lennie for many circumstances to be discussed later; and the second is about George was not supposed to kill Lennie under any reason because the life of every human being must be respected by every person in the world. George, seeing that Lennie did not have the ability to live on his own, always got into very serious problems and seeing that neither of them could get ahead because of those motives as you can see in the next quote: "I done a real bad thing," he said. "I shouldn 't of did that. George 'll be mad.

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In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s is revealed through a simple story of ranch workers who hope to improve their lives. Migrant workers, George and Lennie, have a friendship that is based on trust and protection. The other workers lack the companionship and bond that these two men have. In the novel, the absence and presence of friendship is the motivation for the characters’ actions.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

In “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, George made the right decision in shooting Lennie because Lennie did not know his own strength. Another reason is If George did not kill Lennie others would have killed him. However, the other side might argue that Lennie did not mean to kill Curley’s wife, thus he deserves to live. George should have killed Lennie because Lennie did not know his own strength, that is the reason why he killed many things by accident and caused many problems. “Why do you got to get killed?

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839 Words | 4 Pages

One piece of evidence that supports this claim is from “Ohio Man’s Shooting Of Ailing Wife Raises Questions About ‘Mercy Killings.” One quote is “...meant only to end the suffering of his wife, Barbara, 65.” This relates to Of Mice and Men because she was going to die anyway and he wanted to end her suffering. This is exactly what George wanted for Lennie. If he didn’t kill him Curley would’ve killed him and then he would’ve died without dignity.

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