Of+Mice+and+Men

In the novel, Of Mice and Men, George murders his lifelong friend, Lennie, and though his actions are formidable , he has the purest intentions as he kills him. Several events in the story lead up to this devastating conclusion, and though it saddens the audience, it allows the love George has for Lennie to be shown. He kills him while he is happy, and in turn, he prevents him from losing the hope and simplicity he still has as a result of his ignorance. If he did not kill him, Lennie’s existence would end in disorientation and hostility when Slim and the rest of the hands would come to take his life. George acts conscientiously when he ends his companion’s life in the grave situation they find themselves in.

Certain occurrences sway the development of the story to tragically end with the death of naivety. George and Lennie arrive at the farm after running from a crime that Lennie accidentally commits, and from the moment he meets the ranch owner’s son, Curly, the possibility of trouble is foreseen. To make matters worse, Curly’s wife appears to cause conflict wherever she goes, and she hassles Lennie and takes advantage of his stupidity when he has a discussion in a room with Crooks, the black worker, and Candy, an old ranch hand who wants to collaborate with George’s plan to acquire their own property. When she finds him sitting in the barn alone, she does not decline the opportunity to converse with him again, but unfortunately, Lennie accidentally kills her when their conversation leads him to marvel at her hair and shake her when she tries to make him stop feeling it. When George locates him after he runs away, he shoots him square in the skull in a manner where he would immediately die without excessive pain.

While George does terminate any chance of Lennie’s survival, he also spares him from a worse fate than getting shot by his best friend. In his gullibility, Lennie really believes that he and George are going to live in their own home one day, and he’s going to tend the rabbits on a farm. George never takes this untainted hope away from Lennie because that would devastate him, and he does not want him to die in anguish at the hands of the workers of the ranch. Also, inside he does not want to regret not killing his companion himself like Candy wishes he shot his own dog. When Lennie dies, his last thoughts are thoughts of a brighter future of peace and prosperity, and that’s a whole lot better than the dreary life of never-ending labor that George sees ahead of himself. George shoots his friend with the purpose of saving him from the bleakness he now faces, not with any malice or retribution for the problems Lennie causes for him.

On the other hand, if he didn’t kill Lennie, he would have had to confront several things that would have overwhelmed his simple mind. The assembly of laborers that searches for him would have found him and killed him mercilessly, leaving him to die in mental despair. Even if he did manage to escape their clutches, he still would have lived as a vagabond with no destination for the rest of his life, and George would either wander aimlessly with him or leave him to drown in the upheaval caused by his abandonment. In his mind, the rabbits, the farm, and any other object of aspiration would cease to exist, reducing him to a mere existence without a purpose or expectation to encourage him to continue living. If George did not shoot Lennie then and there, he would have let him escape death, but he would still be trapped by the emptiness of living without a hope in the world. George does the right thing by shooting Lennie out of compassion at the end of the novel. Many events occur that bring about the circumstances in which George must kill his friend, many of which include Curly and his insidious wife. Lennie dies in the peace he has in his future with George, and George gives him that when he shoots him. He also rescues Lennie from the miserable agony he now faces of a life without any hope of reaching the goals of tranquility and leisure. Lennie is completely devoted to George up until the end, but George, though few realize it, answers Lennie’s affection by giving him a death better than any life he could look forward to.