How Does George Kill Lennie Selfless

During the novel “Of Mice and Men”, written by John Steinbeck, the main character, George, shows his selflessness when he made the decision to kill Lennie after he ultimately kills someone. In the book, Lennie, who is mentally handicapped, doesn’t realize his own strength when he uses it in key moments in the story. For only his best friend and care-taker, George, can really control him and later in the book he decides his fate.
Steinbeck uses George and Lennie’s friendship to show that the killing of Lennie, after what he has done, was selfless. First, Lennie and George have to flee their town of Weed and run off somewhere else to find work and living. This leads them to getting work on a ranch and having George set specific rules for Lennie to follow such as,”If you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush”(Steinbeck 15). This is where George would soon find Lennie after the body of Curley’s wife is discovered in the barn. The brush near the water is significant to the story because it is where their journey began and would soon end after George shoots him in the back of the head for killing Curley’s wife, and also for causing so much trouble and becoming a burden to have around. Next, Steinbeck shows the bond between George and Lennie when the ranch bands together to find Lennie and kill him, specifically Curley when he shouts,”I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts. Come on, you guys”(Steinbeck …show more content…
In the end George comforted Lennie, told him their story again so the last thoughts Lennie had were happy ones. If George hadn’t killed Lennie he would’ve regretted it the rest of his life and betrayed not only himself but Lennie as well. Georges promise was to protect and care for Lennie, and he did that better than anyone else could have. Killing Lennie was the right thing to