Lennie And George

There are times in people’s lives when they have to decide if the situation has to be condemned or justified. In this novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, alot of the controversial incidents happened at the peak of ones emotion. This is referring to when George shot Lennie, but this is not the only time in this novel where this had happened.

George’s actions were justifiable when he shot Lennie in the back of the head because he was only trying to save his best friend. George killed Lennie to protect him from the terrible things that would have happened to him if he lived. George knew that if Curley had gotten a hold of Lennie first he would have tortured Lennie before he shot him. George didn’t want that to happen. He wanted Lennie to die without really noticing, without feeling a whole lot of pain, instead of what he knew Curley would have done. Which is why he was telling Lennie of their dream, telling him that he wasn't mad at him and that he could still tend the rabbits. He wanted him to be happy when he left so that he didn’t really realize what was happening. Another way his actions were able to be justified was because he was putting him out of his misery, Lennie wasn’t really actually happy so George had to kill him.

However George’s actions could also be condemned, Lennie was his best friend and he could have just run away and he would have been happy. He told George that he could go live in the mountains so why didn't George just let him run, let him be happy. George and Lennie had a dream, they were so excited about their dream and he just threw it all away with one shot. He let go of everything he had ever wanted in life and he also betrayed Lennie. Lennie did what George had always told him to do if he encountered such an event and Lennie followed through with those actions and even so was still killed, which isn't all that