George And Lennie Character Analysis

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie have a very close relationship and their companionship is quite deep. During the 1930s, which was during The Great Depression, George and Lennie escape from Weed because they get into trouble. George has to look after Lennie because Lennie’s Aunt, Clara, is dead and no one takes care of Lennie. Then, they go to the Salinas Valley where they are going to work on a ranch. In the novel, George is morally right to kill Lennie because George wants to protect Lennie from the painful death and save other people from Lennie’s uncontrolled strength. First of all, George is right to kill Lennie because George wants to protect Lennie from suffering a painful death. If Lennie is caught
by Curley, he will be killed slowly and painfully. In order to prevent Lennie from being shot, the best solution for George to let Lennie pass away painlessly and shoot the big fellow himself. In addition, George and Lennie travel around together and do everything together, they are not like other migrant workers. They really care about each other so George wants to save Lennie’s heart which is filled with happiness. The following lines demonstrates how George cares about Lennie meticulously. For instance, in the text George speaks to Lennie, “Lennie—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… Hide in the brush till I come for you.”(36). That is to say, George Secondly, taking Lennie’s life is also a right decision because it saves other people’s lives on the ranch by preventing them from Lennie’s uncontrolled and powerful strength.
Throughout the novel, Lennie already kills several creatures such as mice, puppies, and eventually a human being like Curley’s wife. When Lennie uses his strength to kill other people, he does not even notice what he is doing. Lennie cannot restrain himself when Steinbeck states that, “She struggled violently under his hands. Her feet battered on the hay and she writhed to be free; and from under Lennie’s hand came a muffled screaming… He shook her then with anger. ‘Don’t you go yelling,’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.”(91) The quote explains that Lennie does not know how strong he is because he is child-like. He cannot control his strength very well and does not even know what problems he might cause by using his strength. In addition, Lennie is not rational; he always does something with emotional like shaking Curley’s wife with his anger until she dies. Fortunately, George kills Lennie. Therefore, the workers on the ranch do not have to concern about risking their lives to work with this uncontrolled guy. Killing Lennie is right because no one gets injured and workers live safely. However, some people argue that George is wrong to kill Lennie because men cannot take other men’s lives easily and Lennie is not willing to kill Curley’s wife, he’s unconscious of doing it until she’s already dead. Nevertheless, the point is not important because Lennie has mental challenges and he does not mean to kill Curley’s wife. All the workers on the ranch are also lonely, so they do not want to help Lennie as well since Lennie is a new guy on the
ranch. In conclusion, George’s motive is acceptable because he lets Lennie not experience the pain and it protects other migrant workers’ safety and their lives. George may have taken Lennie’s life but he does it for the greater good of his friend instead of locking Lennie in jail. In addition, George helps the workers on the ranch, making a safe environment that they can work without being concerned about their lives. According to Bob Marley, “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you, you just got to find the ones worth suffering for.