Part 6: Mercy Killing of Lennie - What did George do wrong?

In part 6, George kills Lennie out of what he thinks is mercy, but was it really the right decision? Lennie had been causing trouble throughout the entire start of the book, talking about rabbits, their dream, causing trouble, killing animals and humans (eventually and more on that later), impeding on other's privacy, just to name a few. His disability made it hard for others to understand what he comprehends in his brain, and made it harder for him to focus, and remember and understand people's feelings. This was why tensions were already high for Lennie by the end of the book. They thought of him as "'Cuckoo,' 'Nuts,' ' Crazy,' and 'Dumb,'" No matter what he did, he caused trouble. Then when he accidentally killed Curley's Wife, he infuriated Curley, who wanted to immediately kill Lennie as he was already mad at him for breaking his arm in a fight. Instinctively, George felt the obligation to protect Lennie. He wanted to do whatever it took to save him from being hurt or even killed. Or did he?... He discussed the matter with Candy at first, and had agreed that the men might try and shoot or lynch Lennie on account of Curley's premature grudge on him. He tried to assure himself that they would lock him up and treat him nicely. But, on the inside, he knew that that probably wouldn't happen. When it became time to act and Curley had started out on his manhunt for Lennie, George had to make his decision, and he chose to take the matter into his own hands. He chose to kill Lennie, not letting Curley and the men make Lennie suffer or chain him and lock him in a cage like an animal. But, I think that he could have went down other paths. For example, instead of helping Curley by telling Slim the true location of Lennie, he could have told him to go West or East or North, throwing them off enough for him and Lennie to escape somewhere else. They wouldn't have known that he had lied. Furthermore, George just didn't seem to be brave enough to truly stand up for Lennie. Maybe it was his pessimistic mood, maybe it was just he didn't believe they would escape, maybe he had given up on Lennie, maybe he was afraid of Curley and that he would shoot him, OR MAYBE he didn't even care about Lennie anymore and did it out of cold blood! Then his second chance was when Curley and the men were arming themselves to kill Lennie. George, secretly having Carlson's luger already, could've forced them into being sympathetic towards Lennie or to keep them from killing him. Yes, this would have caused trouble for him in the future, but yet that would have supported the fact that he had given up on Lennie. I don't think that is true though. Then the last place could have been when Lennie and George were sitting together in the brush area. Judging by how much time George and Lennie were able to talk before the men got near, I think that Lennie and George could have plotted an escape. Even then it wasn't too late, but I won't go into that world again. Maybe I'm asking for too much, and that a normal human wouldn't do so much for another person, but it seemed to me that Lennie meant a lot to him. One of his last sentences to him was "'No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know. (106)'" When he tried to kill Lennie, he "raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.... George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it from him, back up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes. (106)". Another thing I didn't understand was how the men had discovered the EXACT location of Lennie. Did George tell them? Something must have happened! In any case though, I thought that George did one of the better choices that he could have executed. At least he didn't run the risk of letting Lennie suffer a terrible end. What did you think of George's decision to kill Lennie? Was it surprising? Do you disagree or agree? Why? Could George and Lennie really have fulfilled their dreams?....