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In the book Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, I believe that George did make the right decision to shoot Lennie, because of the relationship that they had. Previously learning from the experience Candy had when he let someone else shoot his dog, George knew that shooting Lennie was his job to do. In chapter three Candy says "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn 't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog." , (John Steinbeck, 1973, p.58), this really impacted Georges decision on giving someone else the ability to shoot him.
However, George could have stood up for Lennie instead of killing him. There is other options other than immediately killing. Lennie was not very smart and George knew that, George was not thinking of Lennie he was thinking of himself. In the passage, Of Mice and Men, George says “He’s dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy.” This shows that George knows that he is not stupid.
George killing Lennie and if it was justified or condemned is a very controversial discussion and could go either way. So think about these factors and ask yourself the question if what George did was justified or
‘He got Carlson's Luger. ' Course we'll shoot 'im’" (Stenbeck 97-98). This evidence illustrates that when Curley found out what Lennie did to his wife, George knew that there was absolutely no way that he would be able to save Lennie from this massive crime that he had committed. Instead, George thought that Lennie must be punished for it in the court of law and having him die peacefully and not suffer the pain. George’s decision to kill Lennie was apparently done briskly and not taken with careful thought and consideration that Lennie’s mental disability has caused his own
If Lennie got away with this murder, he would not be able to survive on his own. This would include earning a living and finding a place to live. Furthermore, George’s actions are defensible because of Lennie’s mental state. George did the right thing by shooting Lennie himself because he gave him a peaceful death, Lennie could not survive on his own, and he may hurt other innocent people. To begin with, George gave Lennie a happy death.
In a legal standpoint George Milton would be guilty of the murder of Lennie Small. George Milton is guilty for what Lennie Small went through, George Milton verbally and mentally bullied Lennie Small throughout the book Of Mice and Men and George Milton shot Lennie Small in the back of the head with a lugger which was stolen. Which brings me to my first point on how George Milton is guilty of verbally and mentally bullying Lennie Small. The reasoning behind my accusation, Is George Milton always would tell Lennie Small how dumb and retarded Lennie Small was. Quoting out of the book Of Mice and Men Chapter 3 ; pg.
The main reason George killed Lennie is because Lennie would have killed somebody again. And the evidence is clearly there, the pet mice that he killed, the poor puppy that he accidently hit to hard, and especially Curley’s wife. He almost killed the girl in weed if he had gone any further. The sad thing is is that he doesn't know how strong he really is, nor does he know what he’s done wrong in the first place.
Although the action of George shooting Lennie in the back of the head in the novel “Of Mice and Men,” is absolutely heart wrenching, I completely support George’s decision and action, for he was providing protection for Lennie, himself and others. First of all, throughout the novel we notice that Lennie’s violent behaviour had been escalating higher and higher, eventually reaching the point where he killed a woman. It started simply with killing mice, then crushing Curley’s hand, then killing a puppy, and finally rose to the extreme point in which he murdered a human being. If somehow George had escaped with Lennie instead of choosing to end Lennie’s life, knowing that this pattern of violence would continue, it is probable that he could
But George did the right thing when he shot Lennie, because he would have been attacked by other men in the worst case for what he had done to Curley’s wife, and be arrested in the best case. In my opinion, mercy killing was the best thing George could do for Lennie; there was no other way. The Great Depression was not a great time for even the most competent men. Lennie couldn’t function back then, he needed to be treated, but back then treatments for the mentally impaired were hard to come by in that time. He never had a chance at being normal, nobody understood him nor took the time to understand his behavior.
Therefore George should not be punished for killing Lennie although technically against the law, theoretically shouldn’t be punished due to it being that it was done to save Lennie, it was “self-defense”, it also saved Lennie the torture to come. First of all, Lennie was like family to George. George cared and looked after Lennie bringing them closer. If a family member was lying there in pain waiting for a more painful death should he be put out of his misery instead of suffering? It would just be inhumane to watch another human being go through a high amount of torture and pain after knowing they could have been saved from the suffrage.
"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.
They claim that George shot Lennie out of selfishness in himself since he wanted to escape the burden Lennie caused. Although Steinbeck made it seem as though George at times saw Lennie as something that held him back, Lennie was his best companion, and he would have never thought to hurt Lennie unless he knew that it was the best decision to make. Not to mention some also state that it was an act of murder, being that there was no thought to the fact that Lennie has mental challenges and should have been given a second chance because he does not mean to commit the acts that he does. But Curly would have murdered Lennie either way, regardless of his mental disabilities, and George was only trying to save Lennie from being shot by a stranger who was looking for revenge. Also, people might also argue that the police officers should have been contacted, and that neither George nor Curly should have shot Lennie.
Some people might think in the opposite side that George should not killed Lennie because Lennie did not mean to anything. He has done it without knowing how strong of himself. Lennie made many troubles this might be because of his disability, but this is the reason that he deserves to live. He has done many thing that make George get into trouble and It is better if Lennie has to die because of George shoot him not the other. "All the time he coulda had such a good time if it was not for you” (Steinbeck).
Lennie with his simple mind, always gets into trouble. This time, Lennie gets himself in a bind once again, that George can’t save him from. George decision to kill Lennie in the story, was due to his responsibility, sympathy, and love for Lennie. George’s decision to kill Lennie was out of sympathy for him.
In the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie at the end of the novel was justified. George and Lennie were best friends, and have been since they were little. They got ran out of Weed(the old farm they used to work at) for harassing a girl and not letting her go. He was just scared from her screaming and kicking. He didn’t mean to harm, or scare her.
