Comparing The Right Decisions In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Improved Essays
Did he make the right decision? Is he a murderer? In the book “Of Mice and Men” there are many difficult decisions to be made. George, one of the main characters, must deal with a mentally disabled close friend, known as Lennie who is also one of the main characters. Throughout this story Lennie gets him into lots of trouble unknowingly. George desires to have a home of his own however, he is unable to accomplish this dream due to Lennie’s actions which affect George. George must go throughout the story supporting himself and Lennie and getting them out of trouble that Lennie puts them in. However, at the end of the story Lennie gets them into some trouble that George can not fix and he must made a very hard decision. The question is did he make the right decision.
The kind of world that these two men live in is not a fair one. Men in this time are not very understanding or considerate. An example of a non considerate act in this story would be when the men begin to complain about a coworker, Candy’s dog. Candy’s dog is very old and they continue to bug Candy everyday about getting rid of the dog however, Candy has had this dog since it were just a pup and has been with Candy through everything. This dog is Candy’s only family left and Candy has no intention of getting rid of the dog. Due to the peer pressure of the workers however, Candy gives in and lets one of the men shoot his dog to put it out of its misery. When this act is done none of the men show any compassion towards Candy nor console him. Candy is devastated about the shooting of his dog. His dog was his life long friend and he let a random stranger shoot his closest friend due to peer pressure. “I oughtta shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t oughtta let no stranger shoot my dog.” (Steinbeck, p.61) Throughout this story Lennie and George usually stick to just each other to avoid as many problems as possible, however George does make some friends and realizes that he has been missing so many things by being stuck with Lennie all his life. George’s personality specifically would be like a father figure to Lennie. He did his best to keep Lennie away form any trouble and did whatever he could to support Lennie and him however, he did lose his temper rather quickly. The decision that George makes at the end of the story was to kill Lennie. The trouble that Lennie has got them into was that Lennie had murdered their bosses daughter-in-law. George would have never able to get them out of that problem, so
…show more content…
Also, that the men that they were surrounded with in that time could have also influenced George to make that decision. They did the same to Candy’s dog and weren’t considerate to Candy and George maybe could have thought that eventually they would do the same with Lennie and he saw how Candy regretted not being the one to kill his closest friend so George did it before anyone could even think about it. I think that Lennie was George’s only family and now he is alone and he won’t know what to do without someone to have to support. I believe George made the wrong

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    George did the right thing at the end of the book because Lennie was a threat to everyone around him and if George did not kill him sooner, he would have killed more people later on. With Lennie’s strength and size, he overpowered anybody that he faced and because of the mental state that he was in, he could not control his power remarkably well and that led to many tragic outcomes. For example, “And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck,” (91). Since Lennie cannot control his power, it causes him to do things that he never intended of doing. What was only supposed to be the stroking of Curley’s wife’s hair, lead to her death only a few moments later.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George did make the right decision when he ended Lennie’s life by shooting him in the back of the head because Lennie was a threat to the general population and he was even a threat to animals. Lennie killed mice all the time, he even killed a few birds. Then one day he killed a puppy that was only a few weeks old, and one day in town he grabbed a little girl’s dress and scared her. Then toward the end of the book he killed Curley’s wife.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is easy to infer that George was listening, mostly, to his heart in this situation that he was to his mind. George had not even had time to think properly on a decision that would carry so many moral ramifications. Time Magazine’s David Hume says about the function of the brain during life and death situations, “We like to think our views on right and wrong are rational, he said, but ultimately they are grounded in emotion.” This proves that George could not logically and rationally think about making the decision that he did. These factors, however, are just provide a small portion of the overwhelming evidence that George made a poor decision to murder Lennie.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Lennie is mentally challenged and lacks respect from the other men on the farm, thus proving George’s incentive and reason to kill him, his best friend who’s always been by his side. George had…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George was obligated to pull the trigger. There is no doubt that George had done the right thing by killing Lennie. His decision reflects how an Individual is obligated to others by describing how as humans we are obligated to not allow the people close to us to suffer tremendously, and if one…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Firstly, by killing Lennie, George was protecting others, Lennie had a murder chain going on he went from a mouse, to a puppy to go on to kill curley’s wife, the boss's son wife, with all of that in mind, Lennie did not mean to commit those murders he just wasn’t aware of his own…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He also convinced Lennie that George was a hard worker so he could get the job. You may also be thinking that George wasn't a good friend because he treated Lennie cruelly by calling him names. George also did sacrifice his time to take care of Lennie and he always tried to make Lennie feel by telling him his favorite story about the farm. George killing Lennie must have made you think that George was definitely a bad friend but that's not quite right.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, George was justified in killing Lennie. The first reason George was justified in killing Lennie was because Lennie had brought a threat among people, and it was so easy for him to kill them due to his strength. When all the men on the ranch…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He, soon after, killed Curley’s wife, showing that if provoked enough, he could kill a person. Therefore, this lead George to kill Lennie. Some people think that George shouldn’t have killed Lennie because he didn’t know what he was doing. When Lennie killed the mice, it took him some time to realize it was dead. He didn’t know that hitting his puppy like that would kill it.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Throughout the story, it is clear that all of George’s actions were to protect Lennie. Despite his claims that he would have a better life if he left Lennie behind, George truly cares for him as if he was his brother. Instead of spending money at the whore house or gambling, he saves it to be able to create a better life for him and Lennie. Even when he kills Lennie at the end, it was all out of mercy for his best friend.…

    • 84 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    George kinda did the right thing, I mean there were other options but Lennie killed Curley’s wife, she scared him and Lennie really does not know his strength. Like what happened in Weed, that lady’s dress looked very soft and Lennie has a thing for soft things but she scared him and he did not know what to do so he held on to her dress, who could really blame him for that. Did George do the right thing?…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Do you ever feel helpless, like you do not have choice? Instead the choice was already made for you and you cannot do anything about it? In some situations you encounter a time where you do not have a choice, which can be in a positive or negative way. The choices you make now can affect the choices you make in the future. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, two characters Lennie and George, get a job on the ranch in Salinas Valley.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The death of Candy’s dog foreshadows the oncoming death of Lennie. George comes to his own realization that the ideal life he is seeking will never occur. It is an impossible goal for the two of them. Thus, George feels sympathy for Lennie and decides that it will be best for the both of them if he kills Lennie. When George was asked how he killed Lennie, he responded simply, ‘“I just done it.”’…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When you first read it, it seems that George made the right choice in killing Lennie. Others will say that George rushed things and did not think things through. Really, it would go, either way, George thought it was good to kill Lennie to stop his suffering. On the other hand, George did not have the right to kill Lennie without thinking about what he could have done to tell Lennie. It just depends on which way you look at things.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There would be some strong words that would come out of your mouth, but one you remember most is that, “ Hey, that’s my best friend I would kill for him.” In this novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, I believe that George was right to kill Lennie to protect him from unfair punishment. Many of us today have…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays