In “Of Mice and Men”, there are several moments in which George struggles with Lennie. At the end of the story, George faces a decision in which he either kills Lennie or lets him live. Several factors led to George’s decision. He ended up shooting him, which was the correct action to take. Lennie caused a lot of problems, he was a heavy weight on George, and the circumstances they were in made it the correct thing to do. Lennie is often compared to a child because of his innocence, which is what makes it difficult for him to be treated like an adult. George carries him wherever he goes because he truly cares about Lennie. Lennie had a mental disability which did not allow him to act like a normal adult. Lennie caused a lot of problems for other people …show more content…
The workers were making very little money and there were very few jobs. George has to take care of his job because there is not much to choose from. During that time, workers usually did not travel together like George and Lennie did and they could find jobs easier. The Great Depression was a very difficult time in which people were required to earn their survival by doing whatever they could to stay alive. Carrying Lennie around made it very difficult for George. The circumstance in which Lennie was in after killing Curley’s wife made the problem even worse. He ran away to where George had told him to go if there was ever trouble. Curley was furious because he killed his wife as it is shown when he says “I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shotgun”(Steinbeck 96), and all the men went to look for him. George knew that if they found Lennie, they were going to kill him so he decided that it would be better if he did it himself. The circumstances made it harder for George to leave the situation which impulsed him into doing what he did. The correct thing to do was to kill him himself instead of letting someone else kill