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English lit GCSE- Mice and Men essay question

Is George right to shoot Lennie?
Reply 1
Avatar for 1256601
1256601
9
He did it out of mercy, to spare Lennie's torture. Slim is able to understand this when he says to George 'you hadda'. So I would say George is right to kill Lennie - however, you have to come up with your own view on the matter, that's the best way to succeed in English lit

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Original post by thatawesomekid
He did it out of mercy, to spare Lennie's torture. Slim is able to understand this when he says to George 'you hadda'. So I would say George is right to kill Lennie - however, you have to come up with your own view on the matter, that's the best way to succeed in English lit

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Thanks and had the same idea - For reasons to kill Lennie - Curley was going to kill and torture Lennie anyway, additionally Lennie was mentally handicapped so he was never going stop with these evil helpless situations. Also George couldn't take care of Lennie all his life.
Against reason for not killing Lennie- George promised Lennies Aunt that he is going to take care of Lennie additionally they have been friends all their life time.
Are these points alright?
Reply 3
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Brainy98
1
If you wanted to relate this to context, just some ideas- George shooting Lennie, could be representative of the American Dream, just like Lennie had a dream of finding a place for himself and George, as did people living on the ranches; hope to have a better life. But, this was not attainable.
Reply 4
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1256601
9
Original post by Emmanuel_2015
Thanks and had the same idea - For reasons to kill Lennie - Curley was going to kill and torture Lennie anyway, additionally Lennie was mentally handicapped so he was never going stop with these evil helpless situations. Also George couldn't take care of Lennie all his life.
Against reason for not killing Lennie- George promised Lennies Aunt that he is going to take care of Lennie additionally they have been friends all their life time.
Are these points alright?


They are good points, as long as you have evidence!! Evidence always key. And also you could bring in context and themes; Lennie represents the futility of the american dream as he is fated to die before achieving his goals, even though they are simple (just to tend the rabbits), they are unattainable due to fate

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Reply 5
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zedd1690
George shoots Lennie himself so he is spared the brutality which would be inflicted through Curley's lynch party. He knows it's the right thing to do; he eases Lennie's death by telling him about the dream; making him die as a happy man with happy thoughts. This was the right thing to do, as George knew he had to take the responsibility of Lennie (due to his promise to his aunt Clara) and shooting him himself- to ease the manner of his death, the best way he could. However it wasn't as easy for him: ''George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again.'' This tells us that George found it so hard, that it took him several attempts to finally shoot Lennie.

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