Why do the rest of the men want to kill Lennie?

Why are the men, apart from Curley and George, so eager to kill Lennie? They describe Curley's Wife as a tart anyway, and at that time it's in my understanding that no one would care if 'tarts' died.

Is it because men traditionally had a social expectation to protect women? Or am I analysing this goddamned book too much lmao

Reply 1

TheYearNiner

Want to kill Curley's wife or Lennie?

"Why are the men, apart from Curley and George, so eager to kill Lennie?"

"Why does the rest of the men want to kill Curley's Wife?"

Reply 2

ElaArslan

Original post by TheYearNiner

Want to kill Curley's wife or Lennie?

"Why are the men, apart from Curley and George, so eager to kill Lennie?"

"Why does the rest of the men want to kill Curley's Wife?"

Yeah I realised I titled it wrong oops, but I meant Lennie :smile:

Reply 3

Milzime

presumably they find Lennie annoying and they thought whatserface was hot (maybe they had a chance) and he killed her
also killing isn't brilliant and they are obviously unmoved by his clear disability, which spurs the *outsider* hatred ygm

Reply 4

ElaArslan

Original post by Milzime

Ooooo I see now

Reply 5

Milzime

Original post by ElaArslan

Ooooo I see now

lol this is only my personal kind of view
I read the book a couple years ago but I never studied it (': best of luck to you

Reply 6

Ishan_2000

Apart from Curley? He wants to kill Lennie the most, as Lennie killed his wife.
George kills Lennie in order to make his death quick, and as painless as possible, as he fears that Curley could torture Lennie for ages, and he knows Lennie won't help himself, and may kill someone else. We're meant to see this as a 'good thing', that George did it out of his unconditional love for Lennie.
The others are simply shocked at Lennie killing a human, so are chasing him, I guess, even if it was someone killed that they didn't like. Maybe they also see Lennie as a criminal, who committed a crime of murder, or are scared of him killing one of them, so wants to pin him down before he does further damage.

Reply 7

ElaArslan

Original post by Milzime

lol this is only my personal kind of view
I read the book a couple years ago but I never studied it (': best of luck to you

Been studying it for three years now for this one exam that won't even determine what I end up like in the future kmt. But thank you :smile:

Reply 8

ElaArslan

Original post by Ishan_2000

The others are simply shocked at Lennie killing a human, so are chasing him, I guess, even if it was someone killed that they didn't like. Maybe they also see Lennie as a criminal, who committed a crime of murder, or are scared of him killing one of them, so wants to pin him down before he does further damage.

I like this part, thank you :smile:

Reply 9

username2629733

Considering society at the time discriminated the disabled so u shouldn't be surprised if they wanted to

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Reply 10

Ishan_2000

Original post by ElaArslan

I like this part, thank you :smile:

Thanks, nice to know :smile:

Reply 11

ElaArslan

Original post by LindZ16

Considering society at the time discriminated the disabled so u shouldn't be surprised if they wanted to

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Yeah I realised this but no one made a comment about Lennie while he was there so I was abit hesitant to say that. Like, for Curley's wife they obviously call her a tart and say shes got the eye. They refer to Crooks with racial slurs, and they basically discriminate against Candy by not allowing him to make his own choices (killing his dog). There was nothing for Lennie, even Slim covered for the incident where Lennie and Curley had a fight. So idk

Reply 12

VannR

The other men did not want to kill Lennie, but they knew that he at least had to go to prison, and that Curley would attempt to kill him. Recall George's conversation with Slim on this matter.

Reply 13

Roryd673

I think it's because it was Curley's wife and because the men are lower in the social hierarchy than Curley due to his father owning the ranch they believe they should support his ideas to not get "canned". However, it may also be because many of them had developed good relationships with Curley's wife in the weeks that she was on the ranch. For example, Slim went on the hunt with Curley but then also supported George afterwards because he knew what George had done when he heard the shot. However, Curley really wanted to get Lennie due to him crushing his hand, making him "disabled" causing him to become comparable to Lennie in the social hierarchy and Curley also loses his wife due to Lennie making him single again so he loses control over somebody else.

Reply 14

ElaArslan

Original post by Roryd673

Thanks for that! I like the last part about Curley as well

Reply 15

?Hannah

Original post by Roryd673

great response :smile:

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Reply 16

laeve

They're all so lonely and bored that the chase seems exhilarating. America was a tough place at the time and people only cared about themselves and mental health issues weren't understood e.g. calling Lennie a "dumb dumb"

Reply 17

Roryd673

Original post by ElaArslan

Thanks for that! I like the last part about Curley as well

Yeah, the best bit was I thought of that on the spot. I guess I'm better set than I thought I was for the exam tomorrow.

Reply 18

ElaArslan

Original post by Roryd673

Yeah, the best bit was I thought of that on the spot. I guess I'm better set than I thought I was for the exam tomorrow.

Hope you, along with everyone else, do well :smile:

let's hope AQA isn't harsh enough to give us someone like Whit

Reply 19

ivybridge

I think you're vastly over-complicating this. Lennie killed somebody. The others and Curley sinply want to bring him to justice, whatever their definition of justice may be.