Who Is Responsible For Lennie's Death

A Lennie of unfortunate event… George did right in killing Lennie because he always got in trouble, was a threat who messed everything up, and he had no real use with a chase on his tail. An intriguing topic for Lennie’s poor death was that he always got in trouble and did “bad things” but he did not know what he had done. When George was playing some cards with Slim a bit after he had arrived at Soledad, he accidentally let out a wisp of a secret that no one was supposed to know so that he would get fired. He had told the boss something completely different because he had said that the job at Weed was over, but that was a lye. “Well he seen this girl in a red dress. Dumb bastard like he is, he wants to touch ever’thing he likes. Just wants
to feel it. So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk, and that gets Lennie all mixed up, and he holds on ‘cause that’s the only thing he can think to do. Well, this girl squawks and squawks. I was jus’ a little bit off, an I heard all the yellin’, so I comes running, an’ by that time Lennie’s so scared all he can do is jus’ hold on. I socked him over the head with a fence picket to make him let go” (Steinbeck 41). You see, Lennie just likes to pet soft things. Since he doesn't know much because he is a little on the off side, his brain’s reaction was to just hold on tightly. That was when he messed up without knowing. When Lennie was in the barn trying to pet the little puppies, he had accidentally committed the same error, but this time with Curley’s wife and George nowhere to be found…. “I don’t want ta hurt you,” he said, “but George’ll be mad if you yell.” When she didn’t answer nor move he bent closely over her. He lifted her arm and let it drop. For a moment he seemed bewildered. And then he whispered in fright, “I done another bad thing. I done another bad thing” (Steinbeck 91).In the beginning George and Lennie we're going to Soledad because the bus had just dropped them off a couple miles away from their destination. George had told Lennie to hide in the brush if he ever did something bad. That way George can go on and look for him in the brush and they could escape again like they did in weed. These proclamations show what Lennie is capable of without him knowing, and all he can do is “bad things” and feel really bad after he notices what he has done. As can be seen, this can be lead to him not knowing how to fix the problems that he has created, just like children.
Something every child does is mess things up and not know how to fix it, just like Lennie did.
The past problem lead to him killing a puppy when he was in the barn, before he killed Curley’s wife. “And Lennie said to the puppy, “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard.”’ (Steinbeck 85). Lennie has just said that he killed mice, when looked at the citation at an angle. Lennie is a big tough guy, with big meaty hands to match, showing us that for him, it is easy to kill such a small animal. The puppies were just 3 weeks old. Right here is when Curley’s wife had informed Lennie to touch her hair, and in the previous quotes tell us when she wanted Lennie to let go of her hair, but Lennie just grabbed hold like a
bear.
“Lennie was in a panic. His face was contorted. She screamed then, and Lennie's other hand closed over her mouth and nose. “Please don’t,” he begged. “Oh! Please don’t do that. George’ll be mad”’ (Steinbeck 91). Lennie did not know what he was doing. He just wanted to shut her up so they guys outside of the barn playing horseshoes wouldn't hear her scream, come barge in and punish Lennie. Lennie escapes shortly after he has killed her, and now goes to his designated spot: the brush in Selenas.
Lennie, the big hunk of mass had no real use and was now a wanted criminal and murderer; with Curley as the K9.
When the boys come back (George, Curley, Slim, and the others), George is the first one to enter the barn. Shortly after, enters Slim and sees the same thing. George agrees with Slim that he will leave and act as if he never seen anything so the rest don't think he has to do with this dead wife issue. So he leaves, and before long, Curley sees his wife dead and knows the only man who was big enough to do this. “‘I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts. Come on, you guys”’ (Steinbeck, 96). He wants to go track down Lennie, because he wants revenge on what Lennie did to his hand, and now his dead wife. George was the one who showed the way to go find Lennie, witch for him, was a hard thing to do. Even Though Curley had thought that Lennie took a gun, this whole time George was the one who took it, to make the decision of his life. “‘Yeah. that's how.” George's voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held the gun” (Steinbeck 107). George has now killed Lennie, but he did him a favor because, with Curley as the K9, it could've been much worse. Hence, George did him a big favor, and it was the correct decision in killing poor Lennie for being able to save him from the pages not
turned.