Who Is George Guilty In Of Mice And Men

Is George Guilty?
Lennie was killed by George Milton near the conclusion of John Steinbeck's short story Of Mice and Men. Lennie appeared to be in no danger from George, who always showed him care. Was killing him only a means of protecting him, or was it in his own best interests? Because George essentially executed Lennie, his shooting of him was a murder. Lennie was mercilessly and harshly put to death by George without any provocation. Lennie was defenseless and with no choice but to meet George's predetermined end, which is death. Murdering someone is not something you do out of love; if he had loved him, he would have tried to find a better method to assist him in getting through it. Although George believes that killing Lennie is the

"No, Lennie, I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know" (Steinbeck 99), even in Lennie’s last moments he tries to show him that he cares when in reality he is not really helping others by doing this, his action is simply selfish and impulsive. Lennie's mental illness prevents him from knowing better, hence George killing him is extremely immoral. “You let go! Lennie was in a panic… And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck” (Steinbeck 91). Lennie doesn't intend to murder people or animals; he simply underestimates his strength and is unaware of his wrongdoing in these quotes; he goes into panic because his mental illness does not let him understand what he has just done, which is not his fault . Lennie is a victim of no crime and is entitled to a normal life. In the book they both wanted to purchase their own farm, George makes a lot of promises to Lennie, including: "O.K. Someday- we're gonna to get the jack together... Especially if you can remember it well” (Steinbeck 15). Therefore, George's motivation for killing Lennie was for his own gain. He was aware that he would never have the opportunity to live the life that he and Lennie had imagined, so in order to lead a normal life, he needed to get rid of

However Lennie would have been ruthlessly slain by Curley since he did kill his wife even if he did not mean to. Lennie would have been brutally and belligerently slain by Curley if George had not killed him in the painless manner that he did. "The big son-of-a-bitch will be killed by me. I'll shoot him in the heart" (Steinbeck 96). This passage demonstrates that Curley intended to kill Lennie. “An’ s’pose they lock him up and strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George” (Steinbeck 97) Also, George was aware that Curley would brutally murder him and that he needed to end it quickly. Lennie had to be stopped from accidentally hurting others because if George did not act, the number of Lennie's unintentional victims would keep rising. "Pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they were dead--- because they were so little’” (Steinbeck 9). You can tell from this quote that Lennie would crush anything soft that writhed, contorted, or cringed. He has harmed mice, puppies, and people in this way. Hence, even if they were mistakes, George had to stop Lennie from doing these things. George was in charge of Lennie; he was aware of his personality and acted in