George's Decision to Kill Lennie in Of Mice and Men Essay Sample

Everyone has a friend that gets on your nerves right? Well, now the question is would you kill them? In the story Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, George makes an irrational and unjustified decision to shoot and kill his former friend Lennie. Lennie has mental disabilities and accidentally ends up ending Curly's wife’s life. This however doesn’t justify taking another man's life because of his accidental actions. All life is precious even though Lennie was unable to properly abide by social standards there is no reason to hurt or kill him in fact, it is more reason to help him.

Lennie begins the story by coming off as a very kind and harmless being. While not very smart, socially or academically, Lennie just wants to pet animals and be happy which may be a result of his mental disability. During the first few pages when George and Lennie are camping, as Lennie comes back from searching for wood we hear him say, “I wasn’t doin nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ stroking it”(Steinbeck 9) All this proves is that from the get-go Lennie just wants to feel things as it makes him happy and has no intention of causing harm. After hearing this George proceeds to get angry and not work with Lennie. When George finally apologizes after being rude to Lennie he says “I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody'd shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself.”(Steinbeck 13). While George says this he doesn’t consider what’s best for Lennie and just himself. Lennie wants to make the harmless decision to leave but George insists he stay where he won’t get confused for a coyote and get shot. As the story develops Lennie being left alone or left with anyone but George becomes a telling aspect of how little he knows and how harmless he attempts to be. Despite this George still makes the irrational and unjustifiable decision to shoot Lennie.

Further in the story, we see Lennie’s attitude stays the same. Lennie thinks Curley’s wife is beautiful but he never wants to cause any trouble with her. When George notices and tells Lennie to stop looking and to keep a low profile Lennie responds with, “I never meant no harm George. Honest I never”(Steinbeck 32). Lennie’s attitude as shown in this quote stays the same: He is interested in many things but has no interest in causing trouble. He just wants to pet the mice and glance at Curley’s wife. While looking at Curley’s wife may not be appropriate, Lennie doesn’t know better and George in this scenario does the right thing as opposed to later in the story when he fatally shoots Lennie instead of correcting him. Furthermore, Lennie doesn’t even want to be at the farm. He even states, “I don' like this place George. This ain’t no good place. I wanna get outta here.”(Steinbeck 32). George proceeds to insist that they stay even though Lennie knows what’s best for him in this situation. Unfortunately for the two, they have an attachment to one another and since George doesn’t want to leave, Lennie bites the bullet and decides to stay with George. In doing this, they inadvertently caused Curley’s wife’s death.

Even after the accidental death of Curley’s wife Lennie is still unwilling to cause trouble on purpose. He runs off and hopes not to see the others again to not cause any trouble. He repeats what he said to George stating, “I can go right off there an’ find a cave” (Steinbeck 100). This furthermore reinforces the fact that Lennie never meant harm and is more than willing to go into solitude if it means he causes no more trouble. Continuing on George reassures Lennie that everything will be fine. He promised that it would be, “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” (Steinbeck 106). This in fact, is not nice as he proceeds to shoot Lennie in the head. George never even gave Lennie a chance to get away or at least be locked up. Instead, he impulsively shoots Lennie and kills him immediately. The only positive thing about that is Lennie did not suffer; he was killed immediately.

It can be concluded that George made an irrational decision to shoot Lennie in the back of the head as opposed to helping him at the end of the book. Lennie was very peaceful and constantly insisted on leaving if he was making trouble. Lennie also was very outspoken about making sure he didn’t cause trouble on purpose. It was clear to see that he didn’t make trouble or break the rules on purpose. Next time someone has an annoying friend and they decide something to themselves about what they’re going to do. Just remember that George did it and he will have to live with himself for the rest of his life. He must live with himself knowing that he irrationally killed his best friend Lennie.