Relationships are extremely important to a person's life because they benefit them greatly. Relationships last through the hardest of times and that can be seen in many texts. The author, John Stienbeck was influenced by the poem “To a Mouse” when writing the novella “Of Mice and Men”. In these two texts there is a clear statement exemplified by the relationships among the characters which is why relationships matter. In the novella, “Of Mice and Men,” the most important of the many relationships is between George and Lennie’s because this directly shows why relationships matter because relationships help people get through hard times, overcome obstacles, and most of all they help one another, we can also see a relationship like this one in …show more content…
George finds Lennie in the river where he tells him to meet him if anything goes wrong. George sees the fear in Lennies eyes and he takes it upon himself to do something that might seem wrong but helps Lennie a lot and shows why this is the most important relationship in this novella. This is why relationships matter because they help bring out the good in people and push them through hard times and they continue through those hard times if they are that strong. A quote to show this is, The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices. Lennie begged, “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.” “Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.” And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering,”(Steinbeck 106). This quote shows how George eventually takes it upon himself to kill Lennie because it was eventually going to happen because Curley was going to do it, but he did it in a better way for Lennie, George made a point to ensure that Lennie looked away and he started to tell the story of their dream place to allow Lennie to die peacefully, thinking about his …show more content…
This makes sense because the novella “Of Mice and Men” was based off of the poem “To a Mouse”. They both have situations where one of the characters gets into a bad situation and their strong relationships get them through the tough time. In the poem, the man destroys the mouse’s home and feels extremely bad after doing so. This allows the man to back up and really see what he did and makes him stop and think about what he just did. A quote to show this is, ““The best laid schemes of mice and men./Go oft astray. And leave us nothing but grief and pain./Instead of promised joy,” (Burns 7). This quote is showing that even though plans may go wrong and people may get in situations that are extremely bad, relationships help them get through these tough times because they allow you to see what other people are going through and feel empathy for them. These relationships are extremely important because they show how people have to step back and look at someone who you hurt, and feel what they are feeling. Then you fix what you had just done. These relationships allow you to correct yourself and allow you to take in the good in
George made the right decision when killing Lennie because that was the best way for Lennie to die was to be looking out over the river imaging their dream coming true before “George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.”
Lennie killed Curley’s wife (not on purpose) and got into a fight with him. Curley is ready to shoot him and torture him, except George has the choice to shoot him painlessly first. Some people may say that Lennie should have had a say in this situation and that Lennie didn’t do anything on purpose, he
“George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head… He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). George ended up killing Lennie in fear of what was to happen to him in Of Mice and Men by George Steinbeck. George and Lennie are two migrant workers, and best friends, travelling looking for a job. They wind up at a farm where they have to deal with the boss’s son, Curley.
George feels he has to kill Lennie himself because they were as close just like Candy and his dog. George did not want the other men shooting Lennie just like what happened to Candy's dog. But the biggest example was when George was telling Lennie what to do in case he ever gets in trouble. George told Lennie to go down in the brush and hide in case of trouble. The story says “...if you jus' happen to get in trouble like you always did before, I want you to come right here an' hide in the brush.”
George knew he had to do something, and he didn’t want anyone else murdering Lennie. George knew exactly where Lennie would be, because George told Lennie to come back to this very spot, if he ever got into big trouble. This foreshadows Lennie’s fate too. George knew if he had to come back here, he had done something very wrong and he would have to kill Lennie. Lennie’s last moments were thinking of the ranch, and animals, and food.
A True Friendship Requires Sacrifice In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, In the novel Of Mice and Men friendship is featured many times. Friendship requires sacrifice to be with the people you love. The friendship between George and Lennie represents the true meaning of friendship.
This results into George unwillingly killing Lennie. Steinbeck
George does not want Lennie to die, but he knows he will either way, and Curley’s wrath would be a much more agonizing way for him to go than a quick painless shot to the head in a nice location with his best friend. Before leaving to shoot Lennie, George confesses to Candy that Lennie’s optimism about the ranch dream had convinced him that it was possible too. Steinbeck describes, “‘He pulled the trigger… Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering,’” (Steinbeck 106).
While everyone was looking for him to kill him, George manages to find Lennie before and knows that Lennie has to die, anyway. George decides to end Lennie's suffering for the better of him. George finds Lennie alone hiding and while Lennie is talking to him, George “raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.
This drastic decision was an immense burden on George and complicated his actions. George couldn’t bring himself to shoot Lennie; it was like he was fighting an internal battle: “George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again” (Steinbeck 106). This demonstrates that George didn’t shoot Lennie in a brutal or spiteful way. George purposely had Lennie think of peaceful thoughts to put Lennie at ease. He also shoots Lennie in the head instead of somewhere more painful, like his stomach.
“‘If you don’ want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time.’ ‘No—look! I was jus’ foolin’, Lennie. ‘Cause I want you to stay with me’” (12).
When George talks about Lennie always feels remorse when he accidentally hurts or kills things; further showing that he didn't want to kill anything in the first place. Even though Lennie killed Curley's wife. At the end when Lennie talked to George for the last time he was crying and he said. "I done another bad thing. " Lennie was clearly very upset about what had happened.
John Steinbeck wrote, “George raised the gun and his hands shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again.” George’s actions allude to the fact that he doesn’t want to kill Lennie. Lennie is his best friend but he knew it had to be done to put Lennie out of misery. He didn’t want Lennie to keep being punished for things he didn’t understand or mean to do.
George had to kill Lennie, unless he wanted Curley to get to Lennie. Lennie was in imminent danger
Following this tragic event, Curley, the husband of the victim, had planned with his crew on murdering Lennie in the most excruciating way possible. However, Lennie had already fled the scene with no trace, giving George, Lennie’s lifelong friend, the opportunity to send the group in the wrong direction. With the time George had bought, he advanced towards Lennie's hiding place in the brush. Upon arriving, he creeps closer to his tense companion, instructing him to look across the river and imagine his vivid American Dream as though it will become his reality. Slowly, George raises the barrel of his gun, hovers it behind Lennie's head, and finally pulls the trigger.