Of Mice and Men' - George Killing Lennie

This is one of the essays on Of Mice and Men - George killing Lennie so we are going to analyse the death of Lennie. Violence is something that we see in the world. There is a fair amount of violence in today's society. This is shown throughout history but is highlighted in John John Steinbeck’s classic novella Of Mice and Men when George a working man, has to kill Lennie his best friend at the end of the story. Although most readers of Of Mice and Men have argued that George killing Lennie was a tragedy, closer examination reveals that George was doing him a favour. He prevented him from getting lynched, stopped him from harming someone else in the future, and kept him from getting into trouble with the law.

First of all, Lennie kills mice and the dog. He is killing animals, which now in society it is frowned upon. One of the things that Lennie likes about animals is that they are soft. He says many times throughout the story how he likes soft things. This was a problem with animals because he would pet them too hard, and then he would end up killing them. But we can see how this is a problem not only with animals. It has gotten him into trouble not only with animals. The reason that George and Lennie had to leave Weed was because he got himself into trouble. He wanted to touch a girls dress and he makes her all scared causing them to have to leave Weed. Lennies impulses and the fact that he can’t control himself are shown. When George discovers that Lennie is carrying a mouse George makes him get rid of it. Lennie then proceeds to tell George that he didn’t mean to kill it, how all he wanted to do was pet it. He tells George that the mice bit him and so he crushed his head. This shows how Lennie is hard to be controlled and he has impulses that cause him to harm people and animals. Finally, you can see how Lennie harms animals when he kills the dog that Slim gives him. He was playing too rough with just a little dog and ends up killing it. This can also be tied to the fact that he can’t be controlled. George tells him many times how he has to be careful with the dog and to make sure that he doesn’t harm it.

Another part of the story that you can see Lennie in action is when he kills Curley's wife. A big reason that George had to kill Lennie was because of this. Even though Lennie had no intentions to harm Curley's wife that didn't matter to Curley. Curley was going to make sure that Lennie paid for what he had done. Curly even with a broken hand was going to chase him down and kill him in the most painful way possible. His death wouldn’t have been quick and easy for him. He would have suffered a ton of pain if Curley had got a chance at him. Another point that the killing of Curley’s wife shows is Lennies uncontrollably. Lennie can’t be contained, he does things that he doesn't even mean to. If Lennie and George had been able to escape Curley and other people looking for Lennie then where would they go? Lennie would have done two things that made them have to hurry out of town. They can’t do this forever. Lennie was going to keep having problems no matter what he did. George did Lennie and other people a favour. Lennie would have suffered more pain if Curley would have gotten to him first. George also made sure that then nothing would happen to other people in the future.

Lastly, Geroge killing Lennie is a major part of the story. Although some people would say that killing Lennie was the most brutal part of the story, but in reality, killing him has its pluses. One thing that by George killing Lennie helped him because it made his death a ton easier. If Curly would have got to Lennie before George did then Curley would have made his death incredibly miserable for him. He wouldn’t have let the death of his wife go down easy. He wanted revenge on Lennie and he nothing was going to stop him from getting it. Even his broken hand he was still determined to get to Lennie and end his life and make it horrible for him. Finally, if George had let Lennie live and he had survived the attack from Curley and the mob, he would have faced serious charges. Lennie wouldn’t make it through one night of jail, George knew that. Lennie would have also had a tough time when he was in court and when people were taking him away from George. He would have either been killed by Curley and the mob or he would have faced serious jail time and Lennie wouldn’t make survive there.

Overall Of Mice and Men has many situations of violence throughout the book. Every person has seen violence in there life whether it was an enormous event or ust a tiny one. Lennie had many incidents throughout the story. Many of the men back then wanted to be tough or fight with people. That was the norm back then, and was the social norm for guys to be tough. Through all of the violence in Of Mice and Men, the biggest and most prominent was when George killed Lennie. Violence is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in our society. Steinbeck shows us in his classic novella Of Mice and Men how violence in your life takes a toll on you. You can see this throughout the story and how violence affects different characters in the story.