George Kill Lennie

Improved Essays
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a story that takes place during the Great Depression. The story is about two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, who are traveling to a nearby ranch for work. Lennie has the mindset of a child so George has to look after him. They have a plan to one day have their own ranch where Lennie will be able to tend rabbits. Lennie tends to start problems everywhere he goes. Lennie ends up killing Curley’s wife so he runs away to where George will find him. George then makes the decision to kill Lennie. George had to kill Lennie because he’d be in more pain if Curley killed him, It’s overall better for the society, and for his own personal benefit.
The first reason that George had to kill Lennie is
…show more content…
Lennie was a threat to the people around him even if he didn’t actually mean it. He could not control himself and each time his wrongdoings got worse. Lennie has an obsession with petting things. “I like to pet nice things with my fingers, sof’ things.” (p 90). It started when he was younger and he would get mice to pet but always ended up killing them. When they still lived in Weed, he wanted to pet a girl's skirt and would not let go. When they moved to the new ranch he killed the puppy cause it tried to bite him. Soon after he ended up killing Curley’s wife because he was petting her hair and would not let go. She screamed so it scared him and he broke her neck. If Lennie was still alive then there could potentially be more accidents like this.
The last reason that George needed to kill Lennie is for his own personal benefit. His entire life he had to take care of Lennie, which put a large strain on him. George constantly thinks about how much easier life would be if he didn’t have Lennie. Now that Lennie is gone George has a chance to live his own life and not have to worry about taking care of someone else and give up the things he wants in life. ”I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.” (p

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    This influences Lennie to try not to angry George because he want to tend rabbits. Because Lennie is quiet, Curley is given reasons to be angry and act disrespectful toward Lennie. In the end, “George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it from him, back up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes” (106). Since the beginning, George begins to prevent harm from reaching Lennie. However, he realizes that the only way escape is to end Lennie’s life and forget about his future.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George did the right thing at the end of the book because Lennie was a threat to everyone around him and if George did not kill him sooner, he would have killed more people later on. With Lennie’s strength and size, he overpowered anybody that he faced and because of the mental state that he was in, he could not control his power remarkably well and that led to many tragic outcomes. For example, “And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck,” (91). Since Lennie cannot control his power, it causes him to do things that he never intended of doing. What was only supposed to be the stroking of Curley’s wife’s hair, lead to her death only a few moments later.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people have wondered should George have shot Lennie? While I am upset that he shot Lennie, after thinking for awhile I think that he made the right decision. One reason that I think this is because if they tried to run away together they would have eventually been caught. Partly due to the fact that they are dealing with a murder more people will be looking for them and they didn’t get a very big head start. If they did escape though they would be looking over their shoulder and lived a unhappy fearful life.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lennie is a danger to those around him, and he cause trouble that George must get him out of. When Slim gives Lennie a puppy to care for, Lennie is very happy with the puppy, although after a few days he pets it too hard, killing the puppy. Lennie was alone in the barn as he “...sat in the hay and looked at a little dead puppy that lay in front of him. Lennie looked at it for a long time, and then he put out his huge hand and stroked it, stroked it clear from one end to the other.” (Steinbeck 85).…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Just because Lennie didn’t know what he was doing, he still did something bad that led them to have to skip town. Another reason is Lennie would’ve been tortured anyway. Curley said he was going to hunt him down because he killed Curley’s wife. “He looked down at her, and carefully he removed his hand from over her mouth” (Steinbeck 23). He killed Curley’s wife and George knew that Curley wasn’t going to handle it very well and knew he was going to torture him or something.…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In "Of Mice and Men" it is very controversial when George kills Lennie. This is so because the controversial questions brought up is "Was Lennie's Death Justified as an Act of Mercy Killing?" In the book Lennie has an infatuation with soft objects. He has had many incidents where he has killed small animals such as a rabbit because he strangles them. He does so because he is obsessed with fluffy objects.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This claim is complete bogus, and here why. As previously stated, George killing lennie would mean much more to both of them, then a person who doesn 't have a bond with neither of them. Also, Curley killing Lennie would result in a greater amount of physical pain to Lennie, because Curley was going to shoot him in the gut, and the pain would be long lasting. While George was going to kill him quickly, which would result in less pain. Therefore, George undoubtedly made the right right decision.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    George made the right decision by shooting Lennie Because. George did not want Lennie to suffer for what curly had in store for him so think of Lennie death as a mercy kill fast and less suffering also if George wouldn't have shot Lennie he could get tortured in many different ways. But most people say that George and Lennie should have run away instead of killing Lennie. My first reason that George should have taken Lennie life is that first of all. If Lennie had tried to escape with George both of the men would be considered wanted so it would be hard to have any type of job or place to live because their reputation would be murderers, But George thought that running away would be a bad idea so he did not want Lennie to deal with all this so he took his life.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George was the one who watched over lennie so he felt that it was his decision on whether he should kill him or not. It’s easy to tell that George is Lennie’s care taker because George and Lennie travel together and George makes sure they stick together and that they are both safe. Another reason that you could tell the George takes care of lennie is because George promised Lennie Aunt Clara that he would watch over lennie. And lastly Lennie listens to everything that George tells him to do “Jus tell Lennie what to do…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Firstly, by killing Lennie, George was protecting others, Lennie had a murder chain going on he went from a mouse, to a puppy to go on to kill curley’s wife, the boss's son wife, with all of that in mind, Lennie did not mean to commit those murders he just wasn’t aware of his own…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First off, George killing Lennie was a favor for Lennie because if he hadn't then Curley and his gang would have tortured him. Yes they did have a chance to run away, but even if they did run away again Lennie would have gotten into so much trouble that he would have probably ended up dead…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George should have killed Lennie because he would have been put in an institution, Curley would have been cruel to him, and to keep others safe. One of the reasons why George should have killed Lennie is because he would have been put in an institution. From the beginning, it is easy to tell that Lennie is crazy, or at least mentally handicap.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If George didn’t end up killing Lennie, other people and animals would up dying in Lennie’s hands. If he didn’t kill Lennie someone else would. Lennie ended up killing Curley’s wife trying to make her quiet, as revenge Curley wanted to end Lennie’s life. “I’m gonna get him. I'm going for my shotgun..”…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I think that there was no time to go hide and escape so Lennie could have suffered. Have you ever seen those commercials about how owners and dog pounds have to put down animals? Imagine it like this Lennie is an animal, he’s getting sick and ill and too old there wasn’t a reason to let him suffer. What if George did tell him to leave, go find a cave and disappear? How would you feel if your best friend you’d known for several years said that to you and didn’t want anything to do with you?…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This suggests that George did not want Curley to kill his best and Curley is raged with anger as Lennie killed his wife so he is not going to let Lennie go and Lennie would be able to get him out of this so he puts him out of…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays