The mercy killing of lennie
In part 6 in of mice and men Lennie unexpectedly kills Curly's wife. In doing this Lennie runs away out of fear. Curly and some other men go to look for Lennie so they can kill him. George finds Lennie first and decides to kill him quick. I say that this was a good call because Lennie wanted it when he says "'Go on, George. Ain't you [going to] give me more hell.'" This is showing how Lennie Knew that people were going to hurt him so he let George do it first. From Georges perspective he knew it was the right thing because he heard Curly say "'I'm [going to] shoot the guts out of that big b****** myself.'" After George heard this he knew that Lennie was going to be in pain so he decided that to make Lennie not suffer to shoot him and kill him quickly with no pain.
Excellent perspective, Daniel! I think the end of the book is a surreal blur, that's more allegorical and less realistic. In writing this, I think Steinbeck draws on the experience of those who have suffered in the Great Depression, men just like Lennie and George. They're friendship is unbreakable, and they are victims of fate. I think this illustrates how, for many coming to California, the "Dream" blew up in their faces. It is tragic that those who came in search of a better life often ended up in a worse position. I do agree with you that George killed Lennie because he feared for the worst. But I think the tragedy is also a depiction--albeit a much exaggerated one--of the dreams never realized by the Dust Bowl migrants.
ReplyDeleteI wrote more about this in my post "The Dream is Crushed."