Death Of Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

The death of Lennie in the final pages of Of Mice and Men was shocking enough, but the fact that his best friend, the person he cared the most for, George, was the one holding the gun, is even more shocking. George struggled to make this decision, picking up and dropping the gun in his final conversation with Lennie before the fatal shot. George had a humongous choice to make, and as depressing as his choice was, I believe it was the correct one. George is nowhere near a murderer. He was kind, and took good care of Lennie, even though he became frustrated with him at times. He made sure Lennie was able to escape after pulling on the girl’s dress in Weed, and lost his own job in the process. He slept in the woods with Lennie because they were homeless. He always tried to make sure Lennie was happy and always told employers that Lennie was a “damn good worker.” He never bragged on himself, but he bragged on Lennie to employers, trying to secure Lennie a job before he secured one for himself. …show more content…
Curly did not plan on giving Lennie a trial or a chance to speak before killing him. George knew this, and wanted to make sure Lennie’s last few moments were spectacular, so he reminded him of the rabbits, and had him imagine their dream house. He also saw Candy’s regret after Carlson shot his dog. He knew if Curly was going to be the one to kill Lennie, Lennie would die in fear, and might have been killed slowly. George wanted Lennie’s death to be quick and painless. George also knew if him and Lennie ran away again, there was no chance they would be able to avoid being caught, and he could not let Lennie go off on his