S Decision To Kill Minnie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie at the end of the novella was justified. The reason this decision was even a possibility was because Lennie, a colossal, powerful, and simple minded man, committed a horrible crime. He accidentally killed Curley’s wife. A woman who has the “eye” for other men. She is, of course, married to Curley, who is a young, mean, and abusive man. He is the son of the boss, and pretty much has authority over the other men on the ranch. He is very insecure about his wife. He always thinks that somebody’s going to hit on her, and that she will leave him. So, in order to make sure this doesn’t happen, he tells her that she can’t speak to anybody on the farm. She hates …show more content…
He was absolutely devastated, but it was necessary. His decision was justified because if he had not killed Lennie, Curley would have tortured Lennie to death. The decision was also justified because Lennie was always causing mayhem. No matter where he was, he’d always get into trouble. It was a constant chain of never-ending events, and needed to be stopped. George was not only killing him for the problems at hand, he was also killing him for the problems that would arise in the future. Some people may say that his decision was unjustified because there could have been another way to prevent Lennie’s death. They believe that Lennie could have just run away, or start a life on a new farm, but every idea that was presented was canceled out by something else. If George had let Lennie go, Lennie would have starved. If they ran off together, they were sure to get in trouble again. If George wasn’t the one to kill Lennie, Curley would have. It was a lose lose situation for everyone. He only had one decision, and that was to kill …show more content…
In the news article, “Ohio Man’s Shooting Of Ailing Wife Raises Questions About ‘Mercy Killings’” (The New York Times –August 23, 2012), a 66 year old man murdered his severely sick wife. This man, however, didn’t just kill his wife because he wanted to. He killed her because she was going through immense amounts of pain, to the point where she wanted to die. He couldn’t stand seeing his wife in such a state. He wanted to help her. So, he decided to kill her to stop her suffering. “She had been hospitalized since July 28, when Mr. Wise found her collapsed at home, on the bathroom floor, vomiting and choking. Mr. Wise later told friends that she had suffered a triple aneurysm”( “Ohio Man’s Shooting Of Ailing Wife Raises Questions About ‘Mercy Killings”. The New York Times –August 23, 2012. Page 1). This quote definitely proves that his wife was suffering, and that she couldn’t live a normal life anymore. Mr. Wise ( The 66 year old man who murdered his wife) knew that his wife was going to die soon, and he didn’t want her to suffer during the very last moments she had on earth. This relates to George killing Lennie in, Of Mice and Men, because if Curley had found Lennie before George did, he would have given him a slow and painful death. On page 119 of,