Why George Was Right to Kill Lennie in 'Of Mice and Men'

Although the answer to this question can be defended either way, I feel that George is justified in killing Lennie. Aside form the fact that Lennie has been and will continue to be a hindrance to George in both his personal and professional life, this is not George's main motivation for carrying out such a serious deed. Ultimately, George kills Lennie in a sense of mercy. Lennie, although he may have continued on living a happy, oblivious life, would most likely have found a much worse demise. Due to his lack of cognitive skills and his unbridled brute strength, Lennie continuously found himself in situations where not only did he do something that gets him in trouble or that he didn't mean to do, but angers other people in the process. In fact, when George ultimately does choose to kill Lennie, Lennie was essentially on the run. Curly and the rest of the people from the farm were on a man hunt to kill Lennie and possibly George because of the trouble that he had caused for all of them (mainly the accidental manslaughter of Curly's wife). They certainly would not have been as nice, comforting, or humane as George was in killing him. George did not see an end to Lennie's antics, and so "putting him out of his misery" was a way to protect himself from Lennie, but also Lennie from himself.

I feel one reason why George was unjustified in shooting lennie is because George basically executed him. George cruelly and harshly executed lennie without any warning. Leaving lennie helpless with no other chance than the fate George already decided for him which was death.

By killing Lennie in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice And Men, George protected himself, prevented unnecessary harm from coming to Lennie, and ultimately, he let Lennie die happy.

One of the main reasons why George was actually justified for the killing is because Lennie had hurt others in the past and would most likely continue to do so. When they were in Salinas, Lennie got into very similar trouble when he wouldn’t let go of a girl’s dress. When George was asked by Slim what had happened in Weed he explained, “Well that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie. So we sit in a irrigation ditch under water all the rest of that day. An’ at night we scrammed outta there” (42). This shows us that Lennie is trouble, brings it wherever he goes, and this is why they moved to Salinas. When at the ranch Lennie not only kills his puppy, he also breaks Curley’s hand, showing that the trouble that follows Lennie happens quite often. Lennie smiled with this bruised mouth. “I didn't want no trouble," he said. He walked toward the door, but just before he came to it,

It has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this point, Lennie's innocence is not very accepted with the world because of his size, age, etc. He can’t really learn to change his ways due to his disabilities. Lennie can’t even understand why the bad things he has done are bad. Also, the fate he would meet at Curley's mutilated hands is enough to convince George that his only real option is to make Lennie's death as quick and painless as possible. Lennie would have died at the hands of Curly anyways, which would have been a much more painful and dehumanizing death for Lennie. He couldn't be taken to a mental hospital and in the depression, these were basically non-existent and spending a life in jail would be even more torture for a mentally ill person than death itself. George did what was right because he prevented Lennie from doing anything this terrible again, he stopped Lennie from a more painful death, and he really didn't have any other responsible

George promises Lennie many things once they get their own farm, “’O.K. Someday- we’re gonna get the jack together… ‘Specially if you remember as good as that.’”(15-16). So George killing Lennie was for his own benefit and it was a very immoral thing to do.

First of all Lennie's mental state lead to his death because Lennie couldn't’ verbally defend himself. There were many instances in the book where Lennie would make a bad decision and couldn’t defend himself. In chapter five Lennie accidentally killed his puppy by petting too hard "You ain't so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard.(42)" He doesn’t take responsibility and tell George and decides to try to hide the puppies body. Lennie was too scared to tell anyone and made the wrong decision.

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

Lastly, Lennie would have been shot regardless. Curley wanted to shoot Lennie but if he were to have shot him Lennie would have died in fear and that is exactly what George did not want to happen. Csrlson had also wanted to shoot Lennie and Geroge might have remembered Carlson shooting Candy’s dog and after candy saying “I ought to have shot the dog myself”. George could have realized that if he did not shot Lennie himself than he would regret it just like Candy had. Lennie was so big that he unaware of his strengths and he could have hurt someone else again or he could have put his own life in jeopardy as well.

If George had not killed Lennie, he would have continued to do bad things. This is first shown when he grabbed the girl in Weed and him accidentally killing Aunt Clara’s mice.When Lennie killed the puppy and Curley’s wife it showed that Lennie was incapable of not doing bad things. Lennie did not understand his strength or why both girls tried to get away from him when he grabbed them. Steinback showed that Lennie was not aware that he was hurting the mice, the puppy, or Curley’s wife when he said, “All the time he done bad things, but he never done one of em’ mean.”(Steinback 95). George knew that even if he and Lennie ran away that Lennie's past would continue to follow them.

First of all, George was not justified for killing Lennie because they could have escaped as they did in Weed. As talked about in the paragraph above, Lennie has a fascination with feeling soft things. When they were in the town of Weed, Lennie went to this girl and felt her dress. She panicked and he didn’t let go of her, so she claimed that he raped her. George and Lennie then had to escape a mob of people trying to kill them. “ ‘We run. They was lookin’ for us, but they didn’t catch us’ “(Steinbeck 7). If they could have escaped a mob in Weed, they definitely could have escape a group of ranch workers. In the book the screaming of the workers could be heard, but they still were not there.

In John Steinbeck's classic novella, Of Mice and Men, George makes the decision of killing Lennie because he knows it is in Lennie's best interest. His act of killing Lennie is not considered criminal. George has good intentions in killing his companion. George is trying to prevent Lennie from being tortured and from his constant desire to please George and not cause trouble. Additionally, Lennie repeatedly places himself in difficult situations, and as a result, brings George into the circumstances. There is a close friendship between George and Lennie, and George had carefully thought out whether or not he

Why George should not have killed Lennie in the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

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 way the book “Of Mice and Men” demonstrates that it was the right decision of George killing Lennie is because even if they both run away George will not feel safe with Lennie, and will be even more scared that he will make more trouble than he already did. With the situation of Lennie 's disability it gets worse because Lennie cannot control his strength. For instance, when Lennie