Did George Do the Right Thing?
The ending of John Steinbeck’s novella titled Of Mice and Men is a very controversial topic.
To sum it up, George ends up shooting Lennie, his best friend, in the back of
the head. His motive was kind; he did not want Lennie to suffer. If George did
not shoot Lennie, other men would have killed him for a crime that Lennie committed.
This crime was killing Curley’s wife. If the other men did not kill Lennie for
the crime he committed, then he could have been experimented on due to the fact
that he was impaired mentally. Scientists at the time were trying to figure out
what made some people impaired like Lennie, so he was in constant danger.
Personally, I do think that George killed Lennie out of kindness. If George
wasn’t the one to do it, then Lennie would have suffered immense pain. Also, it’s
not like George wanted to kill him. They were best friends, and George was
sacrificing his own guilt and loneliness to save Lennie from suffering. In
addition, George made sure that Lennie was in his happiest state of mind right
before he died. George was telling Lennie about the rabbits and the farm they
could own, which made Lennie happy. Earlier in the book, the readers got a
sneak peek into Lennie’s mind and saw how he thought. It was filled with
hallucinations, which was a part of his mental illness. He would see and hear
things that were not really there, like his dead Aunt Clara and a talking
rabbit. This is an important detail because in chapter six, right before he was
shot, George told him something about their farm. George said “Look down there
acrost the river, like you can almost see the place.” This makes me wonder. Because
Lennie actually has hallucinations, did he see the farm? Did George tell him to
look for the farm because he knew Lennie would imagine it, and that he would
finally get to see their farm before he died? I may never know the answers to
any of these questions, but I do know for sure that George killed Lennie out of
the kindness of his heart.
The ending of John Steinbeck’s novella titled Of Mice and Men is a very controversial topic.
To sum it up, George ends up shooting Lennie, his best friend, in the back of
the head. His motive was kind; he did not want Lennie to suffer. If George did
not shoot Lennie, other men would have killed him for a crime that Lennie committed.
This crime was killing Curley’s wife. If the other men did not kill Lennie for
the crime he committed, then he could have been experimented on due to the fact
that he was impaired mentally. Scientists at the time were trying to figure out
what made some people impaired like Lennie, so he was in constant danger.
Personally, I do think that George killed Lennie out of kindness. If George
wasn’t the one to do it, then Lennie would have suffered immense pain. Also, it’s
not like George wanted to kill him. They were best friends, and George was
sacrificing his own guilt and loneliness to save Lennie from suffering. In
addition, George made sure that Lennie was in his happiest state of mind right
before he died. George was telling Lennie about the rabbits and the farm they
could own, which made Lennie happy. Earlier in the book, the readers got a
sneak peek into Lennie’s mind and saw how he thought. It was filled with
hallucinations, which was a part of his mental illness. He would see and hear
things that were not really there, like his dead Aunt Clara and a talking
rabbit. This is an important detail because in chapter six, right before he was
shot, George told him something about their farm. George said “Look down there
acrost the river, like you can almost see the place.” This makes me wonder. Because
Lennie actually has hallucinations, did he see the farm? Did George tell him to
look for the farm because he knew Lennie would imagine it, and that he would
finally get to see their farm before he died? I may never know the answers to
any of these questions, but I do know for sure that George killed Lennie out of
the kindness of his heart.
Great post! This made me think about the ending in a much different way, now I do think that George killed Lennie out of kindness; he didn't want the other men to kill him morbidly. This now has me thinking: if George didn't kill Lennie, which other worker would have? I know that Curley is the most obvious answer, but what if one of he other workers had a secret motive?
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job of explaining what happened at the end of the story in a limited amount of words. I also liked your analysis about how George killed Lennie in means that he did it out of kindness. At the end of your post I thought it was a good idea to add questions you were wondering while you were reading. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteIt would've been easy to jump to conclusions and say that George was horrible for doing that, but you went about analyzing the ending in a really mature and thoughtful way that I really liked. What you were saying was easy to understand and pulling a quote from the text was also effective. I agree with the points you made, this is very well written.
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