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

Short term guilt is a useful message from ourselves to ourselves telling us to stop doing something we know is wrong. Long term guilt means we are ignoring the message. That is a sense of moral responsibility. In the heart of the great depression, responsibility was just as important in everyday life as it is today. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows us that people have responsibilities in life, even if they’re unwanted. The character George in Of Mice and Men had the responsibility of taking care of his retarded friend Lennie. George was always with Lennie no matter where they went. It was George’s job to take care of Lennie, so they worked together, and there were numerous times where George had to run away with Lennie because he got in trouble. George didn’t like the responsibility of taking care of Lennie because it was a huge

It was his responsibility. Candy shied away from what was the right thing to do. Candy was very upset about not shooting his own dog and letting someone do it for him. Candy later told George about his regretted decision and that he should have shot his own dog. So he encouraged George to not make the same mistake he did. When confronted with the situation the first time by Carlson, “Candy looked about unhappily. “No,” he said softly. “No, I couldn’ do that. I had 'em too long.” It showed the emotional struggle Candy was going through. Like all responsibility, there is an emotional barrier that has to be overcome to do what is morally right. Everybody has responsibility whether they want it or not. In Of Mice and Men, there were clear examples of commitment and personal responsibility among the characters. At a real world standpoint, unwanted responsibility is everywhere. The people who have a sense of duty and man up to their everyday responsibilities instead of shying away from them are the true leaders of a better tomorrow. Have you fulfilled any responsibilities