Pivotal Moment In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Pivotal Moment - Of Mice and Men Most of us tend to make decisions in our lives that can shape our futures, changing the world of the people around us, and there are many literary exemplars that showcase this effect on a character. This is displayed through many novels with the writing of a pivotal moment: a moment where a single decision takes place, where the characters’ lives are changed. In Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, there are multiple situations that can be seen as the pivotal moment of the novel, all of which build up to a single moment which contributed the most to changing the protagonist’s life. The story of two friends, George and Lennie whose lives were changed by a single misjudgment, this pivotal moment commences in

At this point after all of his previous experiences with Lennie, George understands that Lennie has become a menace to society and has to be killed. Unlike the situation in weed where he tried to save Lennie, George has now lost his hope of humanity in Lennie. After knowing that Lennie has killed Curly’s wife, George is conversing in his mind of his next steps, George has lost all repentance in Lennie’s actions. In the past he had killed mice and dogs but this has taken it to a new level of monstrosity and he knows that Lennie must be punished. This is shown in the text when Candy is asking George what to do next and George replies, “Guess... we gotta tell the... guys. I guess we gotta get 'im an' lock 'im up. We can't let 'im get away. Why, the poor bastard'd starve.” And he tried to reassure himself. “Maybe they'll lock 'im up an' be nice to 'im.” (94) This quote shows that George is not sure of what to do next, he believes that he has to tell the other guys because this has gone too far. As it is shown in the quote George knows he can’t let Lennie get away. Even though he is going to tell other guys, George still wants to look for the optimism in what will happen to Lennie. After George realizes the magnitude of the crime Lennie has committed, George believes there’s no way out and they must tell the other guys, thus he disagrees when Candy offers him the idea of letting Lennie

At this point, George is feeling the immense guilt of killing his own friend and has sacrificed his own sanity with this act because he knows that this had to be done and this is the best outcome for Lennie, instead of letting him be killed by Curly and his men. George knows beforehand that, when he finds Lennie, he is going to shoot him which is why he takes Carlson’s Luger. George believes this is the easiest way for Lennie because he knows by the talk of Curly that they will surely kill him in a way that will have no mercy. As stated priorly in the novel, when Candy says that he should have killed his own dog instead of letting Carlson do it, George is recalling to the idea that he should kill Lennie himself, giving Lennie a quick and painless death instead of allowing a bunch of strangers, like Curly to do it. This quote foreshadows to the reader that George is going to kill Lennie, “He reached in his side pocket and brought out Carlson's Luger; he snapped off the safety, and the hand and gun lay on the ground behind Lennie's back. He looked at the back of Lennie's head, at the place where the spine and skull were joined.” (105) With this imagery provided by Steinbeck the reader knows that the time for Lennie’s death has come. In the previous pages, the