The Role Of Euthanasia In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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“If I had terminal Cancer, I had a few weeks to left to live, I was in a tremendous amount of pain-If they just effectively wanted to turn off the switch and legalize that by legalizing euthanasia, I’d want that.” Prime Minister of New Zealand, John key, wants the freedom to be able to choose whether to live or die. Euthanasia is the killing of a patient out of kindness and sympathy to end suffering. In the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, Mercy killings or euthanasia is a prominent subject, main character George took it upon himself to take the life of main character Lennie because he knows if he doesn't Lennie will die in a horrific death. Euthanasia should be legalized and be socially accepted if someone has no further future from a …show more content…

Instant relief while suffering might be the best thing that could happen for someone. “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” Steinback demonstrated how fast relief is valued in situations where you need it best. In The New York Times article “The Quality of Mercy Killing” by Roger Rosenblatt, there's quite a few examples of instant relief due to death. In Fort Lauderdale Florida a 86-year-old octogenarian man shot his 72-year-old wife who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease in the stairwell of a hospital, another man in Miami shot his 3-year-old daughter in the heart who has been in a coma after a freak accident. After the people exhausted all other forms of relief they switched to euthanasia as the last result for pain relief just like george did with lennie. George was trying so hard to keep him from trouble and have a normal life but knowing he would die a horrible death he had to kill him but this way Lennie lennie wouldn't have to suffer