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Trent Hyland
Ms. Vidmar
Character Analysis
October 25, 2010
A man kills his best and only friend; a man who is like a son to him. His name is George, and he
kills his best friend Lennie at the end of Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. George has many reasons to
kill Lennie, but the real question is, is George’s killing of Lennie justified? Or is it cold hard murder?
George is justified in killing Lennie because he cannot determine a better plan, he does everything in his
power to keep Lennie out of trouble, and he saved Lennie from a more painful or harsh fate.
George is justified in killing Lennie because he knows that there is no possibility of escape.
When George realizes that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife, he goes out and grabs Carlson’s gun. This
leads many people to believe that George has simply been waiting for the chance to kill Lennie, or that
he has not thoroughly thought through his options. However, this is not the case, as George shows when
he discovers that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife. “George was a long time in answering. ‘Guess we gotta
tell the…guys. I guess we got to get ‘im and lock ‘im up. We can’t let ‘im get away. Why, the poor
bastard’d starve’” (Stienbach 94). This shows that in the beginning, George is trying to determine an
alternate plan that could keep Lennie alive. He begins bargaining to himself in the last part of the quote,
when he says, “why, the poor bastard’d starve.” He so badly wants to keep Lennie alive, but in the back
of his head he knows that he has no other choice. He knows that Curley will not let Lennie live; he wants
revenge too badly. He also knows that if he tries to help Lennie escape, he will be considered a fugitive
as well and they will hunt him down. He begins to understand that the best thing for Lennie would be to
kill him himself. George begins to understand that the other men will hurt Lennie when he says, “’They
got to bring him in, I guess. They ain’t no way out. Maybe they won’t hurt ‘im.’ He said sharply ‘I ain’t
goin’ to let ‘em hurt Lennie’” (95). This shows that George is still bargaining, trying to convince himself
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that he can save Lennie and not have to kill him. After this, George realizes that now not only can he not
figure out a way to save Lennie, but in addition the men will imprison or kill George if he attempts to
aide in Lennie’s escape. For example Curley says “You George! You stick with us so that we don’t think
you had nothin’ to do with this” (98). Now, if George would try to help Lennie escape in any way, the
men would blame George as much as Lennie, and shoot him as well. Due to the fact that George has no
way to save Lennie without endangering his own life and the fact that Lennie can not survive on his own,
he decides that it is best to kill Lennie himself, rather than have him die of starvation or murdered by the
other men.
George is justified in killing Lennie, because he does everything he can to keep Lennie from
getting in trouble in the first place. From the moment that the men get to the farm, George is telling
Lennie, like a father would, not to get into trouble. George says “You try to keep away from him, will
you? Don’t never speak to him. If he comes in here you move clear to the other side of the room” (29).
George is warning Lennie just after their first encounter with Curley to not mess with him and to stay
out of trouble. Furthermore, George gives yet another warning to Lennie the first time that he sees
Curley’s wife. “Listen to me you crazy bastard’, he said, ‘Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t
care what she says or what she done. Seen ‘em poison before but I never seen no piece of jail bait
worse than her’”(32). This is yet a second time that George warns Lennie away from Curley and his wife,
who he knows will be trouble to Lennie. There is not much more that George can do to keep Lennie out
of from trouble, other than to follow him around everywhere; and George can't do that. Lennie also
knows that he is not supposed to interact with Curley or his wife. “George says I ain’t have nothing to
do with you-talk to you or nothing” (86). This is what Lennie says to Curley’s wife when they are in the
barn together. Even despite Lennie’s faulty memory and mental condition, he is still able to remember
what George tells him. It is evident from this passage that George drills into Lennie’s mind not to
associate with either Curley or his wife. It is simply that Lennie chooses to talk to Curley’s wife even
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though he knows it is wrong. Because Lennie fails to listen to George, he inadvertently kills Curley’s wife.
Due to Lennie’s failure to listen despite everything that he has been told by George, George has to kill
Lennie even though he does not want to. George genuinely cares about Lennie; if he didn’t, he would
have left Lennie long ago, or not tried as hard as he did to keep Lennie from getting into trouble. It is his
mental disability and Curley’s wife’s flirtatiousness, not George’s unwillingness to keep Lennie out of
trouble that caused Lennie to talk with Curley’s wife, kill her, and eventually force George to have to kill
him.
By killing Lennie, George saved him from suffering a slow, painful death or life imprisonment in a
cold, dark cell; possibly even torture by giving him a nice, peaceful, and painless death. While George is
kind and generally cares about Lennie, the rest of the men do not. Curley, in particular, is ready to get
revenge on Lennie. He wanted to make sure that Lennie suffered a painful, slow death. “I’m goin to get
him. I’m going for my shotgun. I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts” (96). Being
shot in “the guts” would not immediately kill Lennie. It would cause him to suffer and die slowly, while
George’s method of shooting him in the back of the head was a fast and completely painless death.
Furthermore Lennie’s disability would most likely cause him a dismal, horrible existence even if he were
kept alive. He, if he were able to escape or the men decided to keep him alive, would have probably
been sent to a prison or an insane asylum. These places are not the same as they are today. Back in the
1930’s, prisoners were treated much worse. Cells were dark and cold, prisoners were given little food
and water, and they got very little respect from the guards. Insane asylums were even worse. They
would give you electro therapy, which is basically just zapping you with electricity. George and Slim
begin to realize this as they talk about what to do. “’An s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him down and
put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George” (97). Lennie would rather be dead, killed painlessly while
talking to his best friend than be put into a prison or insane asylum for life. Even if Curley had restrained
from killing Lennie, he would have certainly made sure he got in one of the worst prisons or insane
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asylums out there. In addition, George kills Lennie in one of the nicest, most painless ways possible.
“Lennie begged, “’Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now’ ‘Sure right now. I gotta. We gotta’ And George
raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand
shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger” (106). This shows many
things about George as well as Lennie. Lennie dies in the best, most painless way possible. He is
dreaming about his own farm he was going to have and about being able to tend to the rabbits, which is
his ultimate goal. He knows that George loves him and is excited and happy after hearing his goal. This
quote also tells us a lot about George. George really goes out of his way, and even risks his own life, to
make sure that Lennie does not feel pain and Lennie is happy when he dies. If the men find out that he
has stolen Carlson’s gun, the men, assuming that he is trying to help Lennie escape, would have
probably killed him. We can tell that George loves Lennie and does not want to kill him by the fact that
his hand and voice shook when he is about to kill him and because of painless and peaceful way in which
George kills him. When George kills Lennie, he makes sure he is happy and that he dies painlessly. The
other men would have made him scared at his death, and would have made it slow and excruciatingly
painful.
George was in fact justified in killing Lennie because there was no better plan that could involve
both of the men staying alive. George tried his very best to keep Lennie from getting into trouble in the
first place, and he saves him from a tragic and painful death at the hands of angry men, and instead kills
him painlessly and making sure he was happy when he passed. George tried his best, and thought of
everything that he could in order to save Lennie’s life. In the end however, the circumstances required
that George killed Lennie, not only to save his own life, but also to save Lennie from horrible pain at the
hands of the other men on the ranch. Yes, George is justified in killing Lennie, Because it was the best
outcome that he could make out of a terrible and tragic situation.