Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

George’s decision to shoot Lennie in the back of the head was a loving one that was for Lennie's own good. You see, Lennie did not know what he was doing when he snapped Curley's Wife's neck. The poor fellow did not even know his own strength. He was merely trying to silence Curley's Wife. The thing is, George was the only one who understood that, and anybody else would not have been as kind about killing him or locking him up.
If George did not execute Lennie at the end of the book, Curley would have happily done the job. For example, in section eight of the book, Curley states, “where’s Candy’s rifle, I’ll shoot the bastard myself right now.” It is is clear that Curley is fuming with rage and cannot wait to get his hands on Lennie. If George had not ended Lennie’s life in the peaceful, painless way that he did, Curley would have been much more ruthless and savage about it. Clearly, Curly would not have hesitated to end Lennie’s life in a vicious way. …show more content…
The County Sheriff would have been happy to lock Lennie up or possibly even worse. For example, in section six, Candy exclaims, “You go and catch Lennie, and I’ll see if I can get the sheriff down there as soon as possible.” From the sheriff's perspective, this was a case of a big, strong, and unstable man brutally murdering, a flimsy, defenseless, housewife who hadn't done anything wrong. That crime that qualifies for a life sentence or possibly even the death penalty. Lennie would not have done well in prison. He couldn't live with the fact that the dream was dead and he would never be able to tend his rabbits. As it has been demonstrated, Lennie becomes aggressive when it comes to rabbits, and if an inmate or a guard told him he would never see one again, there is no telling what he might do. That is another reason why it was such a loving decision. Lennie died with the vision of the dream in his