Ignorance In Langston Hughes's 'Harlem'

George was justified in his decision to shoot Lennie because he was dangerous to the people around him. For example, in chapter one they were running from a mob of people because Lennie did something to a girl at the other place. Lennie also killed Curley’s wife on page 91. ‘’And then she was still for Lennie had broken her neck”. (Pg.91) In that sentence the reader finds out Lennie broke Curley’s wife’s neck. Throughout the book Lennie does more and more to show he is dangerous to the people around him.

One reason George shouldn't shoot lennie is because due to his mild mental disability lennie looks up to jeorge. Lennie believes in wholeheartedly. Lennie is a large lumbering childlike migrant worker. George is obviously devote to lennie, Lennie is slow and acts like a little kid sometimes, George said, “ There was splashing down at the river. “ (steinback 8) Lennie was splashing water with his fingers. In my conclusion lennie is to slow to know what he is doing bad or good .

The first reason George should have shot Lennie is because he cannot learn from the things he has done. In the book it says “Oh, so you forgot that too, did ya? Well, I ain’t gonna remind ya, fear ya do it again” (Steinbeck 7). The reasoning for this is to show how Lennie forgets things easy and how fast he forgets it. Also it shows that George has to remind Lennie

First and foremost, George has to constantly continue to repeat rules to Lennie because Lennie is undisciplined. Like, after Slim gives Lennie a puppy Lennie brings the puppy into the bunkhouse with him even though George told him he was not supposed to. For example, after Lennie comes into the bunkhouse John Steinbeck writes that George " reached down and picked up the tiny puppy from where Lennie had been concealing it against his stomach." (Steinbeck) In this quote it shows that Lennie disobeyed the rules that George has set with him so he could get the puppy this means that Lennie is undisciplined because he broke the rules even though he knew that there were specific rules that were not supposed to be broken. consequently, George has to repeat himself many times and treat Lennie like a child by fixing the things that Lennie messes up and disobeyes the rules. So George was justified in his decision to kill

    George took Lennie in after Lennie’s aunt died. George knew his aunt pretty well. Lennie had nowhere to go afterwards, so George let Lennie come along with him. George wasn’t always nice to Lennie in the beginning. George would tease him and trick him. Lennie didn’t know any better than to listen to George, even if it was a taunt. After an incident happened to Lennie, George stopped tormenting him. He felt bad for Lennie and how he treated him. From this moment on, George actually took into consideration of Lennie’s mindset. In the book, Steinbeck writes,

Although Lennie has the mental capacity of a child, he is innocent to doing anything wrong to George. George just seen him as a potential threat.

At the beginning of George and Lennie’s relationship, when the two first start traveling together, George is rather aggressive and abusive towards Lennie. An example is when George nearly killed Lennie. George “turns to Lennie and says ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him” (40). George, Lennie’s caretaker, was not the nicest person to Lennie at first, he made Lennie do stupid and dangerous things, and Lennie didn’t ever think about it, mainly because he didn’t have the mental capacity to do so. Although, after the river incident, everything changed in the relationship.

Meanwhile, throughout the whole novel Lennie has been accidentally killing things such as mice, puppies and even a human. Second, it seemed like Lennie was famous for holding George back from reaching his lifetime goals. However, Lennie got George and himself in lots of trouble. Making it harder for George to reach his lifetime goals. Lennie got them into some trouble with weed, causing them to have to pack up and move to a different town, furthering Lennie’s goals.

While it seemed George had the best intentions in putting Lennie down, the reason he did it all was to cover up his actions and brush them off as something

In case of Lennie gets in trouble George told him to go to a specific location where he would go meet him. George tells Lennie, “Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get into trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush.”(Pg. 14) george uses Lennie's obedience toward him to his advantage. George tells Lennie what to do in specific situations. Plus George's power over Lennie is so great that he could make him do things he doesn't want to. George exclaims, “I said get i’m.” Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it… He stood crying, his fist lost in Lennie's paw.”(Pg 63-63) Lennie would listen to george in any situation. George commanded Lennie to defend himself and he obeyed. Lennie is completely obedient to George but that obedience also has the possibility to cause

At the beginning, George tells Lennie that he would be better off without him so he could live his own life instead of having to deal with both his and Lennie's needs. Granted that all of that is true, George always reminded Lennie of the future they were going to have together and how no one understands them as much as they understand each other. It has always been against them in the world and no one could stop them. George had implanted the thought into Lennie's head that George would be mad at him if he had done something wrong. In the book, it's constantly brought up by Lennie that George is going to be mad at him because he made a mistake.

He was similar to a child, and unaware of what effects anything he did had on others, thereby making him an innocent man. All he wanted to do was “‘...live off the fatta the lan’... An’ have rabbits.’” (Steinbeck, 14) so that he could live happily and pet the rabbits since Lennie likes soft things. Instead, George “...raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head...and...pulled the trigger.”

I could also notice when I was reading through the first chapter that George has a sense of authority over Lennie, “you gonna get that wood”. This is like a parent telling a child to do his chores. On some occasions though George shows a bit of hatred towards Lennie, he thinks of what he could have if Lennie wasn’t around and contrasts that with George.

Lennie is mentally disabled and so always ‘does bad things’, because of this, he constantly depends on George to protect him and get him out of trouble. For example, in Weed, Lennie constantly ‘wants to touch

I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard.” This dialogue from George sounds like he is almost bullying Lennie. In this story Lennie has the mind of a young child, George knows he can’t stand up for himself. So why does he do it? George does it because he likes the power. If Lennie did not have George he would not survive. “God a’mighty, if i was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ o trouble.” This quote from George shows that he likes to rub it in Lennie’s face, because he knows Lennie can’t make it alone. Those are all examples of being cruel to