How Is George Justified In Of Mice And Men

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The Justification of George’s Shooting in Of Mice and Men

How would you justify shooting a best friend? In the novella, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, George shoots Lennie and kills him. George only seemed to have the best for Lennie in mind. But how is it justified? George shooting Lennie dead can be justified as a mercy killing for Lennie and keeps Lennie from living the rest of his life locked up in an insane asylum. There is also the account that these two men have a lot of history together, and George has a sense of responsibility for Lennie.

George shooting Lennie dead be can justified as a mercy killing for Lennie because George didn’t want Lennie to die painfully, since Curly said, “I’ll kill that son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts” (Steinbeck 96). If Curly had his way, Lennie would have an awful experience dying. George wants Lennie to die without ever feeling pain, so he shoots Lennie in the back of the head just like Carlson does to Candy’s old sheep dog (Steinbeck 44-49). A quick, painless death is one way of looking at why George shot Lennie dead.
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By killing Lennie, George saved Lennie from the tortures of an insane asylum because Curly made Whit go into town to get the deputy sheriff (Steinbeck 98). If Curly wasn’t able to successfully kill Lennie himself, the deputy sheriff would throw Lennie in an asylum without another glance. Even George agreed with Candy when he said, “An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George” (Steinbeck 97). George didn’t want Lennie to have that kind of life, aside from dying