Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

For most, life is not always black and white. In fact, during one's life, the lines of back and white seem to blend into more of a grey color. Life in general, is more likely to be full of gray areas than anything else, because life does not always go according to plan. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by George Steinbeck, there are a lot of shady areas. It is hard to say wether or not it is right of George to take the life of his best friend, Lennie. Since Lennie has an inability of being self-reliant, it is right of George to kill Lennie, because it saves him from further suffering, hurting others, and most importantly hurting himself.

By killing Lennie, George saves Lennie from elongated suffering. After finding Lennie hiding at the Salihas River, George tells him how it is going to be someday when they have a place of their own. "We'll have a cow...An' we'll have maybe a pig an' chickens...and down the flat we'll have a... little piece of alfalfa-," (p.105) George describes to Lennie as they look out across the river. George calms Lennie by painting a beautiful image in Lennie's head of the little farm they will someday own. Lennie loves the vision of the living of the land and tending to the rabbits. Instead of being angry with Lennie for what he did, George leads Lennie into a state of serenity before shooting him. Lennie's last thoughts of the life he lead was of harmony and satisfaction. If George had not killed Lennie himself, Curly would have tortured Lennie before killing him. Goerge knew that killing Lennie would only save him from more pain. George "pulled the triger...and [Lennie] lay without quivering,"9p.106). Lennie did not suffer from the up close gun shot, instead he died instantly. George did not want to inflict pain onto Lennie; George killed Lennie as quickly as possible. George also knew that Curly want revenge on Lennie for crushing his hand, and letting Curly kill Lennie would make Lennie suffer greatly. By taking Lennie life before other could, George saved Lennie from torture.

Lennie is a threat to others; killing him solely prevented further harm to anyone. For example, when George finally fought back against Curly, he ended up doing more than necessary to escape from Curly. Lennie bust "ever' bone in [Curly's] han',"(p.64). Lennie is unable to recognize his own physical strength; thus putting others in danger. When Lennie panics in stressful situations, he ends up hurting someone. With Lennie dead there is no possible way he can wound anyone else. In addition to crushing Curly's hand, he also kills Curly's wife. While in the barn, Curly's wife lets Lennie feel her hair. Lennie likes the texture of her hair and refuses to