There are many misguided points of view, and ongoing debates, of the relationship between George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men. This novel is about two farm hands, Lennie Small and George Milton, who had a bout of trouble and are now starting work at a new ranch. George and Lennie have dreams of one day owning their own ranch. Lennie does not have a good sense of his own strength and this causes him and George plenty of trouble. It is inevitably why George shoots Lennie in hopes of saving him from Curley and his future life. By George making the decision to shoot and kill Lennie at the end, it is a humane and loving response over letting him continue to live a restricted life. If George would not have shot Lennie, ending his life quickly
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Although, George is aware of Lennie’s strength and uses this knowledge to try to help him stay out of trouble. This point is significant, because it is possible that Lennie would have continued to hurt other animals and living creatures. Lennie never means to hurt anything he squeezes or holds, but it continues to be a problem that gets him into trouble. Lennie himself acknowledges this view when he says, "I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead – because they was so little” (9). The softness attracts him and he squeezes too hard if he gets startled, not realizing his own strength is hurting the animal. Since he does not realize his true strength, he repeatedly gets into trouble. This is due to his inability of not understanding that he cannot squeeze too hard. As shown above, he murdered Curley’s wife and this led to the last thing that had got him in trouble. From these examples, it is safe to say he would probably go on to kill another living creature if he were to live. This would cause him to get in trouble once again, and force George and himself to go elsewhere. In the end of the novel, it shows Lennie’s internal struggles. We see that Lennie felt guilty for what he had done. Lennie says, “I done another bad thing” (98) to George. This shows that Lennie is aware he has done something wrong. Moments before George showed up to the bush, Lennie was talking to himself through his Aunt Clara and a rabbit. This part of the novel is significant because it shows that Lennie realizes too late, after the “crime” is committed, that he has done a bad thing. The point of this portion of the book was to show how even though Lennie figured out he had done something wrong, he still does not understand how to prevent something wrong from happening in the
Although, George is aware of Lennie’s strength and uses this knowledge to try to help him stay out of trouble. This point is significant, because it is possible that Lennie would have continued to hurt other animals and living creatures. Lennie never means to hurt anything he squeezes or holds, but it continues to be a problem that gets him into trouble. Lennie himself acknowledges this view when he says, "I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead – because they was so little” (9). The softness attracts him and he squeezes too hard if he gets startled, not realizing his own strength is hurting the animal. Since he does not realize his true strength, he repeatedly gets into trouble. This is due to his inability of not understanding that he cannot squeeze too hard. As shown above, he murdered Curley’s wife and this led to the last thing that had got him in trouble. From these examples, it is safe to say he would probably go on to kill another living creature if he were to live. This would cause him to get in trouble once again, and force George and himself to go elsewhere. In the end of the novel, it shows Lennie’s internal struggles. We see that Lennie felt guilty for what he had done. Lennie says, “I done another bad thing” (98) to George. This shows that Lennie is aware he has done something wrong. Moments before George showed up to the bush, Lennie was talking to himself through his Aunt Clara and a rabbit. This part of the novel is significant because it shows that Lennie realizes too late, after the “crime” is committed, that he has done a bad thing. The point of this portion of the book was to show how even though Lennie figured out he had done something wrong, he still does not understand how to prevent something wrong from happening in the