Mercy Killing - Of Mice and Men
In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, two men travel together to escape their pasts. They arrive at a ranch in the Salinas Valley with hopes to achieve their ultimate dream; to buy a place to call their own. Lennie, who is a simple-minded man, and George, who is just a typical guy are brought together and make a lasting friendship out of the loneliness of each man. While spending time on the farm George and Lennie meet some friendly characters, but because of some accidental deaths their dreams drift away. Foreshadowing may create a literary theme. Lennie is a massive and powerful man, but is dull-witted, George on the other hand is scrawnier and not as mighty. Both are hearty individuals just trying to survive a tough life. After Lennie's Aunt Clara passed away George took the responsibility of looking after Lennie. Through good and bad times George has learned to love and protect him. Lennie, an animal lover at heart always takes pleasure from petting them. He loves all small, soft, fuzzy things and cannot help himself from petting them. During their journey to the new ranch, Lennie catches a mouse, "I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along." (Steinbeck:6). George hates
Two men brought together through each others loneliness, travel around with hopes to achieve a dream someday, but it begins to go awry when they arrive at the new ranch. Some accidental killings brought George to the stage of having to mercy kill a long time friend to save him the grief of being shot in the gut by Curley. In the 1930's these people that may have done something wrong by accident did not have a chance to stand up for their actions, but were killed on the spot or taken and hanged. The different killings in the story all foreshadowed the final death of Lennie. This foreshadowing created a literary theme of mercy killing. George and Lennie soon become friendly with the farm hands. One of the farm hands even gives Lennie a puppy for him to look after. Lennie falls in love with the puppy and says he will not let anything ever happen to it. Lennie once again not knowing his own strength breaks his puppy's neck, "God damn you." He cried. "Why do you got to get killed? you ain't so little as mice." (Steinbeck:85) Lennie, scared of getting in trouble from George tries to hide the pup under some hay and thinks of what to tell George, "I'll tell George I found it dead." (Steinbeck:85) Before Lennie has a chance to hide the pup Curley's wife comes walking into the stall and starts talking with him. it when Lennie catches animals and plays with them "well you ain't petting no mice while you walk with me." (Steinbeck:6) because he knows Lennie could end up killing the tiny animal. Lennie does not know his own strength and handles the mouse too rough "you've broke it pettin' it." (Steinbeck:9) After the two men spend the night in the woods, they finish their journey and arrive at the ranch. Soon after they arrive at the ranch, George and Lennie meet some new and delightful peopl
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Approximate Word count = 1222
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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