If I asked you, or anyone else, "If somebody shot their best friend for making a mistake, would that make them a bad person?" Hopefully everybody would say yes. And why wouldn't they? In our society, and probably forever, killing another human is an unforgivable crime, and crime in which very little can be forgiven.
But, if I asked you, "If a grown man killed a young woman and tried to run away but somebody shot him before he could do anymore harm, is that a good person?" Although this would be a harder question to answer, my guess would be most people would lean towards yes.
This is what makes the story Of Mice and Men so complicated and hard to grasp at times. In a kid's world so much is black and white. I LOVE this food. I HATE homework. I am OBSESSED with my phone. Piano lessons are the WORST. So how can something so concrete as one man killing another, be so debatable. This is how we figure out if George is a good person.
At the beginning of the book many of us pondered George. On the one hand he seemed so rude and brusque. George was constantly talking down to Lennie, and acting as though he were far superior which made most of us dislike his demeanor. However as a character George showed great compassion just by taking care of Lennie, and defending him against other men, and the harsh realities of the world. So what was George. A good person? Or a bad one? For some reason we feel the need to categorize. Pretty. Nice. Mean. Weird. Good. Bad. etc. Steinbeck made this incredibly difficult. He created one of the most complicated characters I have ever come across, causing us to think deeply. I had come to the conclusion that George was a kind person at hard and that was helping Lennie the best way he knew how: tough love. This is why the ending of the book is such a shocker. Nobody was expecting him to shoot his best friend.
So is it acceptable? Given the fact that Lennie had just killed another (mostly) innocent human, the FAIR side of us kicks in saying a life for a life. But having read and bonded with Lennie, if only for 6 short chapters, we also feel compassion knowing that he never intended to do such things, and felt incredible remorse when he did.
All though it was a very hard conclusion to come to, I have decided that George did the right thing by shooting Lennie. I put myself in the place of his victims loved ones. If someone like that was loose and could potentially kill someone I loved, I would demand they be locked up. Maybe shooting Lennie was an extreme but given the time and the circumstances, it was probably (sadly) the most humane way for Lennie to be subdued.
I think that it's based off of a story or reality point of view, and it's hard to agree with which one is better. With the story point of view it was the best possible thing, and it said in the book that George was shaking when he held the gun. Even though George was always really men to Lennie, and George treated Lennie like a dog, it was hard what he did. Lennie was George's only family, and as Ashley said, I understand why he killed him. It was the best action for the both of them. While in reality we know that's an awful thing to do and that an action like that is unforgivable. Yet I feel like it was more George for a change being selfless. I'm not saying killing some one is an act of selflessness, but in this case it was the best thing. George has really grown throughout the book, from being a person that didn't care about anyone but themselves, to now a person that was willing to give up the last piece or closest thing that the had to a family. Overall I agree with Ashley.
ReplyDeleteI think in this story, George is doing the right thing. Would you rather have someone who doesn't like you to shoot you and cause you pain? Would you want a friend who has been there for you and not cause you pain when he shoots you? The whole story is wrapped around friendship and loyalty. George shot Lennie where he couldn't feel the pain and George wanted Lennie to be in a better place. In this case, George would have had guilt, just like Candy, because someone shot his loved one. Yeah, George treated Lennie and other people like dogs sometimes but who doesn't have a bad conscience in their body. George was a dreamer but also believed that in real life you have to work had. Curley wouldn't care where he shot Lennie as long as he suffered. Either Lennie was going to die because George didn't stop Curley for killing him or George killed Lennie out of love. Because George didn't take the coward act and let Curley kill Lennie, George shows he has real bravery. This all shows that George is a good person with bad flaws.
ReplyDeleteI think that although George did kill Lennie for making a mistake, I don't think it makes him a bad person. Even though it may seem like it was based off of him killing Curley's wife, I think it may be based off of all of the other mistakes he made and to prevent him from furthering his trail of hurt. If you asked a question as basic as "If somebody shot their best friend for making a mistake, would that make them a bad person?" someone would most likely (and hopefully) say yes, that is okay. But once you go deeper into this topic, it makes it more debatable. Yes, Lennie did make many harmful mistakes, but they were not out of "meanness", as George called it. He was innocent and never meant to hurt anyone or anything. So, if you asked a person the question once they were provided with the past of Lennie, their answer may change. It seemed like George really cared about Lennie. He stepped up as his role as the fatherly figure and did what he though would be best for Lennie, even if it meant taking him out of this world completely. I don't think George's intentions were to harm or hurt Lennie, but to help him. George knew that if Lennie continued to live, he would continue to hurt people and things, and George probably hated the idea of that. So, once with the evidence provided, I think that George is not a bad person, but a noble one for helping his friend sty out of trouble.
ReplyDeleteI really do agree with Najaah. I believe that in Of Mice and Men George shooting Lennie was the right thing to do for both of their sake. I see how the author wanted to incorporate the times and hardships faced during that time into the book. But the author also incorporated what it means to be a good friend. George had the decision to either be Lennie's friend or not at the end of thee book. This is why I think Of Mice and Men is based off of friendship. If you had the chance to put your friend out of their misery would you? Lennie was either going to get shot by Curley or would have suffered in jail. I Think George did the right thing, although he didn't want to shoot Lennie he knew what he had to do. If he didn't shoot Lennie or let him go to jail, George would live off of regret and sorrow like Candy did with his dog like Najaah said in her comment. George was a good person, a dreamer, and a realist, a good friend and an employee. By shooting Lennie he showed not only how good of a friend he is but how brave and loyal he is. In Of Mice and Men George showed the true side of him and how good his heart can be.
ReplyDeleteI thought that George did the right thing to do because like Kathleen said Lennie was either going to get shot by Curley for killing his wife or he was going suffer a lot in jail. I think that George was just protecting Lennie from suffering so he shot Lennie. I also think that George could have been being selfish and he shot Lennie because Lennie was slowing him down from getting to their dream of having their own land. So he shot Lennie because Lennie is slower in the brain and doesn't remember things well so he got frustrated and snappeed. The book showed some foreshadowing when Candy's dog was shot number one they were both shot in the back of the head and two they both were going to suffer because the dog was old and Lennie was going to go to jail.
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