Of Mice and Men (book spoiler question)

[SonicDeathMonkey]

I read Of Mice and Men today and I can't figure out exactly why George killed Lennie? Any ideas?

[brianjedi]

George killed him to keep him from suffering. He knew that Lennie would be attacked by Curley for killing his wife. The killing is a parallel to the shooting of Candy's dog earlier in the book, as George saw how Candy felt after not doing it himself. George thought it was best if he put Lennie out of his misery rather than someone else, because deep down he cared about Lennie.

(Or at least that's what my English III teacher said.)

P.S.- Try http://www.sparknotes.com for answering other questions like this.

-Brianjedi

[SonicDeathMonkey]

That's good. I definitely wouldn't have figured that out, although I was wondering how the shooting of the dog came into play. I personally just figured that owning some land was more important to George than Lennie was, and he figured he couldn't get the land if Lennie was wanted. I'mm not too good at this.

[Geek Mecha]

If you're going to give spoilers, it would help a great deal to indicate what book you're spoiling. That way, we, like, know, y'know?

[Albert Rose]

It's from John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

[Chez Guevara]

Yes, as indicated in the OP.

[Geek Mecha]

It would help a great deal to indicate _{in the thread title} what book you're spoiling.



*crawls back under her rock*

[JillGat]

Thread title changed. - Jill

[Ace309]

The thing is, SDM, George isn't going to own the land now. He's just going to fall back into the cycle that all the other loners are in - much as he mentioned earlier in the book. Maybe he'll spend his fifty bucks playing cards, or stay in a cathouse all night... but without Lenny to fund half of it and keep him honest, he won't buy the land. Lenny functioned as sort of a conscience and an outlet for George, which was what made him unique.

[WordMan]

Once you get a feel for his use of symbolism, Steinbeck is pretty easy to crack. He almost always - in his heavier works, less so in Cannery Row, etc...- ladles on multiple ways to tell the same story, so you can decode the shorter, simpler one as a key to the longer story. Hence the dog metaphor paralleling what happened to George and Lennie. Another of my favorite Steinbeck short stories, The White Quail (from his collection The Long Valley - if you haven't read it, I recommend it highly) works this way, too: A man who is trapped within his existence is the main character, but his situation is paralled with the story of his discovering a white quail within his wife's perfectly manicured garden. If the ending to that one doesn't move you, you're made of stone.....

[Sublight]

The parody Jump Off the Cliff Notes summed up the moral of the story thusly: "If your best friend is smelly and/or stupid, it's your job to shoot him."

But anyway, George knew that Lenny was going to die soon one way or another, and he wanted it to be quick and painless, rather than at the hands of Curly's lynch mob.

--sublight.