Courageous or cowardly?
Caring about other people is not a constant theme in the book “Of Mice and Men”, so when George Milton took initiative and killed his best friend it took everyone by surprise. By this act of courageous love, he saved his best friend from a lifetime of suffering. In the story, Steinbeck creates a situation that only has one right solution, and George did just that. There are many reasons why what George did for Lennie was the best solution for the situation, including what would have happened to Lennie if Curly had got to him, if Lennie was put into a mental institution, and the fact that Lennie was a threat to everyone around him.
Had George not shot Lennie, Curley wouldn't have let him slip away as easily. When Curley said “I'm gonna get him. I'm going for my shotgun. I'll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I'll shoot ‘im in the guts. Come on, you guys.”(pg. 96) he meant it. Lennie would have endured a painful death if Curley had control of what would happen next. It can take up to 15 minutes to bleed to death after being shot in the gut, but it is a painful death. Curley wanted revenge for how Lennie had destroyed his arm, and his wife’s death gave him the perfect excuse to torture him. If Curley had gotten his way, he would have made sure …show more content…
There was a slim chance that George and Lennie could have escaped, but if they had there was nothing to say that it wouldn't happen again. Lennie did not know his own strength, and if he had moved to another new place to start over yet again, there would not have been anything they could do to prevent it from happening again. In the span of about a week Lennie managed to harass a woman from back in Weed, crush a grown man's hand, and kill several mice, a puppy, and Curley’s wife. By the time they had landed themselves another job, he would not even have remembered why they left their last
Caring about other people is not a constant theme in the book “Of Mice and Men”, so when George Milton took initiative and killed his best friend it took everyone by surprise. By this act of courageous love, he saved his best friend from a lifetime of suffering. In the story, Steinbeck creates a situation that only has one right solution, and George did just that. There are many reasons why what George did for Lennie was the best solution for the situation, including what would have happened to Lennie if Curly had got to him, if Lennie was put into a mental institution, and the fact that Lennie was a threat to everyone around him.
Had George not shot Lennie, Curley wouldn't have let him slip away as easily. When Curley said “I'm gonna get him. I'm going for my shotgun. I'll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I'll shoot ‘im in the guts. Come on, you guys.”(pg. 96) he meant it. Lennie would have endured a painful death if Curley had control of what would happen next. It can take up to 15 minutes to bleed to death after being shot in the gut, but it is a painful death. Curley wanted revenge for how Lennie had destroyed his arm, and his wife’s death gave him the perfect excuse to torture him. If Curley had gotten his way, he would have made sure …show more content…
There was a slim chance that George and Lennie could have escaped, but if they had there was nothing to say that it wouldn't happen again. Lennie did not know his own strength, and if he had moved to another new place to start over yet again, there would not have been anything they could do to prevent it from happening again. In the span of about a week Lennie managed to harass a woman from back in Weed, crush a grown man's hand, and kill several mice, a puppy, and Curley’s wife. By the time they had landed themselves another job, he would not even have remembered why they left their last