Was George's Execution Of Lennie Justified

George and Lennie were best friends for a long time, more like brothers. Lennie is about as bright as a 2 watt bulb, so George couldn’t really get mad at him when he accidently killed Curley’s wife while feeling the softness of her hair. “…’I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know’”. The two had planned a future together—a future in their own dream ranch, a ranch where no trouble would ever bother them. “’You…an’ me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ‘em’”. Then after he tells him about the rabbits that Lennie is so fond of, he shoots him in the back of the head where he knows it will not hurt him, and Lennie will not know what hit him. This is the peaceful alternative to what Curley had in store for him. Curley's exact words were "shoot the bastard right in the guts." George's euthanizing of Lennie makes the mentally incompetent Lennie die with dignity. Had Curley gotten to Lennie first, Lennie would have suffered. This shows you how much George cares for Lennie, no matter what he does or the crimes he commits. He’d always be there to help Lennie get right back up to his feet, make him forget all his worries, and move on like nothing happened. I strongly believe George was the right person to kill Lennie, and made the right decision in doing so, rather than to let him suffer in the hands of Curley.

First of all, George shouldn’t of killed Lennie because, Lennie didn’t mean to kill Curley’s wife. Lennie knew that if someone saw Curley’s wife lying on the floor dead they would tell Curley that someone had kill your wife. (If Lennie hadn’t kill Curley’s wife they wouldn’t be looking for him, Lennie would still be alive, and have a job, roof, and he would still be with George.) Lennie didn’t want to die, and Curley wanted Lennie to suffer a slow and painful death.

In Germany during WWII, Giovanni Palatucci was given a ticket out of the country to save himself from the Nazis, but instead Giovanni gave the ticket to his fiancé, so she could save herself. Giovanni saved his fiancé, because he loved her and didn’t want her to suffer. People do acts of kindness every day, not for themselves but for others. In “Of Mice and Men”, George committed an act of kindness when he shot Lennie. It might not seem nice to kill someone, but Georg loved Lennie as a brother and didn’t want Lennie to suffer. It was justified that George killed Lennie, because Lennie could not survive on his own, if Curley found Lennie then he would have died painfully, and Lennie would just continue to cause trouble if he lived.

“I'm going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch myself.” (Steinbeck 96). In the book, Of Mice and Men, Curley shows that he is a very truculent person. He wants to diminish Lennie, Lennie doesn't realize there is a complication because he can not develop things in his mind as easily as the other men. At the end of the story, Lennie makes a very bad mistake and in response he gets killed because he becomes a danger to other men. Mercy killing in Lennie's situation was the better decision because his friend George shot him. George was putting him out of his , if George wouldn't have killed Lennie then Curley would have. Through the whole book Curley talks about his hatred for Lennie, and at the end he shows it by threatening Lennie's

The Great Depression affected millions of people in America, two of those people affected were George and Lennie. George and Lennie are migrant workers that struck a job in California. George can be described as the brains of the partnership, while Lennie is more of the muscle. In the story Lennie has a fascination with feeling soft objects. This later gets them in trouble in the town of Weed. Once they get to the job, they go months will no big problems. Until, Lennie accidentally killed The owner’s son’s wife. After this happened Lennie ran off, and all the workers went to go find him and kill him. George does find Lennie before any of the other workers, and even with the chance to escape, he shoots Lennie. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the murder of Lennie was not Justified.

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

Lennie kills Curley’s wife because she was bothering Lennie. George specifically told Lennie to not talk to Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife was so desperate to talk to someone even if that meant getting Lennie in trouble by George. Lennie obviously did not

Defend or challenge the notion that George's act of killing Lennie was one of kindness

Finally, John Steinbeck shows off the bullying and meanness as intentional and contrasts it to Lennie’s unintentional meanness, such as when he hurts the puppy (pg 85), the mouse (pg 5), and kills Curley’s wife (pg 91). When Curley wants to fight it is intentional and violent. George explains Lennie’s violence when he says that Lennie "never done it in meanness" (pg 104). Lennie kills because he does not know his own strength – he cuddles or loves to hard. Also, he panics and reacts without thought, such as when he pulled the woman’s dress. (pg 41) Also, showing a contrast in motive is that Lennie is so upset by what he has done, especially to Curley’s wife. He is the only one who shows real remorse.

George’s inability to control Lennie leads to unfortunate events throughout the novel. In the first place, it is nearly impossible for George to keep Lennie from letting go of things when he gets nervous; like how George had to hit Lennie with a fence post in Weed to get him to let go. This inability to control Lennie’s grip unfortunately leads to Lennie accidently killing his new co-worker Curley’s wife. Not only can George not control Lennie from letting go of things, but George cannot keep Lennie from doing things he is not supposed to either. On the way to their new job, Lennie will not stop petting a mouse in his pocket. George tells him that he cannot keep petting animals like that because when Lennie does his strong hands kill the small

Despite committing several destructive and irrational deeds, Lennie can be exempt from blame because of his mental impairments. When Lennie breaks Curley’s hand it is only because George convinced him to defend himself against Curley’s attack. Even after the attack Lennie cries,”I didn’t wanta hurt him”(Steinbeck, 64) This shows that Lennie’s intentions are always meant to be good and that he would never willfully hurt someone without proper justification. Lennie other eccentric acts such as incidentally killing mice and a puppy can be credited to the lack of voice of reason in Lennie, which is what George attempts to serve as. However, when Lennie is without the presence of George he struggles to make the correct decisions because he doesn’t know any better.

In the final chapters, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife which results in Curley trying to find and kill Lennie. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger…Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering” (Steinbeck 106). Although this might be an odd quote to use, it actually shows that George was doing a favor by killing Lennie in this way so he

George says, “ All the time he does bad things, but he has never done one of ‘em mean” (Steinbeck 95). This shows that he always defends Lennie because half of the time Lennie doesn’t know what he’s doing. George will always want Lennie to be with him because he loves him like a brother and treats him with

One reason why George was a true friend towards Lennie was because he looks out for him and protects him. Since Lennie doesn’t always make the best decisions, George tells him what to do . For example George unslung his bindle and dropped it gently on the bank “ I ain't sure its good water ,” he said “ Looks kinda scummy’ (Steinbeck 1).By George saying that he’s warning Lennie that the water is very unsanitary and to not really trust it be drinkable.

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 the main characters are best friends that travel to a new town in Salina California, to find a new jobs. But when George and Lennie got there Lennie made bad decisions. George shot Lennie at the end of the novel because of the mistakes he made. George needed to shoot Lennie he needed to be the one to do it. He needed to do it so the other farm members didn’t lynch him. George would have felt a regret like candy. He always would have had a horrible feeling for the rest of his life. Like candy when he didn’t kill his own dog and Carlson did. Some people might say that what George did was unjustified because Lennie is still a