Comparing John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Of Mice and Men is a story about many things. It touches upon many controversial subjects such as mercy killing, innocence, dependency, the American dream, and many other things that aren’t usually conversed about in the classroom. These aspects of the book, as well as the profanity in it, has made Of Mice and Men a book that has been assigned by teachers, as many times it has been banned by them (Shmoop Editorial Team). The book is about two people, George and Lennie, in Soledad California who are looking for work after a little accident in which Lennie was accused of rape. They find themselves at a ranch that harvests barely and meet new people. They meet Slim, the prince of the ranch and a skilled mule driver, Curley the ranch owner son, Candy, an old ranch hand missing a hand, and Carlson who wants to kill Candy’s dog. They want to meet the dream of owning their own ranch with rabbits, but are set back by people who are not very nice, Curley and Curley’s wife (Shmoop Editorial Team). George and Lennie are best friends, but George has to end Lennie’s life in order to end his suffering…show more content…
In the sense that they aren’t suffering anymore. I believe in mercy killing in this sense, but if you have a disabled kid, it’s is basically neglecting your own child if you perform a euthanasia. So technically my position is in between both sides. It is both good and bad in a sense. We can connect this into the novel when Candy’s dog is shot by Carlson because he is old, and suffering (Steinbeck 48). Another thing that shows the support of this in the novel is when George kills Lennie for the purpose of keeping him from suffering. Society doesn’t have to change, but only reconsider and see what is happening in the eyes of the family members, and loved ones. Society should let mercy killing be legal under certain conditions because people don’t do it out of hatred, but because they cannot stand to see others
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