Euthanasia Should Not Be Banned In John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'
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What could be so terrible about a book, that it has become one of the most frequently banned/challenged books? Of Mice and Men is an fictional book written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The book has been banned in many schools due to racism, profanity, foul language, violence, treatment of women, and for seemingly promoting euthanasia. This book is usually read by high school students around the age fourteen or fifteen, however many parents have gotten upset when hearing about what their kid was reading. Many parents have stated that this book is not age-appropriate and should not be read in school. However, in my opinion, this book should not be banned.
The biggest reason Of Mice and Men has been repeatedly banned and challenged is because of the impression that it’s…show more content… Euthanasia is the act of killing someone to end their suffering. This can be seen twice throughout the book. The first time this is seen is with Candy and his old dog. As seen in the text ““Look, Candy. This ol’ dog jus’ suffers hisself all the time. If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head-” he leaned over and pointed, “-right there, why he’d never know what hit him.””(44). As seen in this quote Carlson says that Candy should just shoot his dog to end his suffering. In the end, Carlson is the one to shoot Candy's dog and bury him. This is definitely an act of euthanasia. However it’s not exactly promoting it. It’s not saying you should kill someone just to end their suffering. Candy clearly does not agree with it at all. He is clearly hesitant about the idea until he finally gives in to Carlson, who won’t stop pressuring Candy to kill his dog. The second time this occurs is at the very end of the book when George shoots Lennie. It does not directly state that George is doing this in order to end Lennie's suffering like with Candy’s dog, it is implied that George shoots Lennie to end his suffering and to make his death