Curley wanted to kill Lennie because he disgrace Curley and killed Curley’s wife and that is an act of capital punishment, which is wrong because Lennie didn’t mean to kill her. In conclusion, George was right to kill Lennie because he care a lot for him and capital punishment is wrong because some people who are sentence to death might actually be innocent. Overall, George murder Lennie because Lennie murder Curley’s
However Candy later regrets letting Carlson shoot his dog for him as he says ….. “I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog”- The shooting of the dog foreshadows the death of lennie. Candy’s final comment about the dog truly influences George’s decision to kill Lennie. Later George will shoot Lennie to spare him from the unbridled violence of candy. For both, death is to be seen as a merciful release.
Dear Lennie, I know killing you was wrong of me, but if I didn’t do it then Curley and the other guys would have killed you. I didn’t want it to have to come to killing you, but the guys gave me no choice because they would have killed you or put you in an insane asylum. I killed you because I would have rather done it then letting one of the other guys do it because you are my best friend. If I let one of the other guys kill you then that would have made me feel the same way Candy did when they killed his dog because he said, ‘“ I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog’” (Steinbeck 61).
“Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard. The death of the puppy is an accident since Lennie is not able to measure or control his strength, killing the puppy unintentionally. Lennie being unable to measure his strength is one reason to why other deaths throughout the story occur.
If Boo Radley was put on trial for the murder of Bob Ewell there would be a fight if he was doing it for self-defense or he was out to get him because he was mad and just kill because he was mad at him. The evidence was shown that Bob fell on his knife. The whole story is that Jem and Scout was on their way back from the school and they were walking in the woods to go home and they were followed by Bob Ewell and that he was attacking them and trying to hurt them but he ended up braking Jem arm. If it was not for Boo fighting back and killed Bob but that was accident. So the argument was that Bob fall on his knife but the other one was that Boo killed him.
Lennie is intended to be loved by the reader, but his physical actions cannot be controlled. Consequently, his actions took the better of him, accidently murdering Curley’s wife. Lennie is a sincere and innocent fellow, just like a young child, but he has the body of a bear. He had no intention of killing Curley’s wife, but he has a hobby for “petting soft things”. This follows on to the death of the lady, due to Lennie stroking her hair, gradually petting harder and harder, tragically breaking her neck.
Dally lost his innocence at the age of 10 when he killed a man, and Johnny lost his innocence at the age of 16 when he killed Bob Sheldon. “I killed him. I killed that boy”, Johnny Cade. Sometimes, people don’t even have to do something wrong to lose their innocence, they just have to witness something of wrongdoing to lose their innocence. Ponyboy just had to see Johnny kill Bob and that was enough to make him lose his innocence.
In that moment he knew he had to shoot Lennie, George thought about when Candy’s dog had to die, how Carlson shot him, and not Candy himself. George knew he had to kill Lennie himself because of that experience. When Carlson shot Candy’s dog George could see the pain in Candy’s face. George didn’t want to experience that pain for himself. Yet he was forced into the same position.
If the other ranchers had arrived, they would have tormented Lennie before killing him, causing Lennie to die terrified and confused. Even If George had managed to get Lennie away, he would have had to place Lennie either in jail or in a hospital for the criminally insane. Lennie would have been mistreated at either place, and worse, he would have been alone and afraid. Being separated from George was what Lennie feared most. And so, when George killed Lennie, he did it painlessly and with love.
In Steinbeck’s captivating novel, Of Mice and Men, he is able to display a story about an innocent man and an evil man, on an journey to find a piece of mind. In the end, the evil man is the only one standing because he decided that it would be in everyone’s best interest to kill his partner. No, he didn’t kill him because he had to, but he killed him because he was selfish. Right from the start, George was in it for only himself, and Lennie was just there for company. It was such a shame that Lennie’s life had to be taken away for George to be happy.