George Killed Lennie's Death

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John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, has one of the most debated over endings. Upon finishing the novel, the first question that comes to mind is if George did the right thing by killing Lennie; however, the most intriguing question is whether or not Steinbeck ended his novel appropriately. Many questions surround the debate over the ending including was Lennie’s death necessary, and why did the last line of the novel go to Curley and Carlson. However, I think that the ending was an appropriate one for this novel. Steinbeck was portraying bleak aspects of human nature and in order to do so he needed a character to be destroyed to the point where he lost his ability to dream. All characters, at some point, feel lonely and isolated; yet as long as they have a dream to hold onto they always make it through. The ending of Of Mice and Men was appropriate as it ended with Lennie dying alongside his and George’s dream.…show more content…
George killed Lennie because he knew that after accidently killing Curley’s wife that Lennie would never be safe again. He also knew that if Curley got his hands on Lennie it would be a much more painful death. In order to save his friend, George did the most humane thing he could, he brought Lennie back to the place where the story began, a place where their dream was still alive and shot Lennie in the back of the head. George knew that Curley would never believe anything Lennie said, he knew that Curley only believed the worst in people and only wanted to do the worst to people. George had to kill Lennie even though he knew it would destroy his chance of getting the farm, he did it and it destroyed
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