Of Mice and Men (WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS!!)

The Book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about two men named George and Lennie. George is small, bossy and clever while Lennie is big, obedient, and not the brightest but they are still best friends. They travel and work together and both dream of one day sharing a plot of land with their own shack and some rabbits to care for. However, Lennie is always messing up things for them. He has the mind of a child and doesn’t understand his own strength. He love to touch soft things like mice, but he always pets them too hard and ends up hurting them instead.

On the farm where George and Lennie work, an old man named Candy also works. Candy has a dog who is old, tired, and smells very bad. The other farmhands all wish that he would put the dog to sleep and get a new one because she is a nuisance. Candy doesn’t want to kill her though, he has raised her since she was a puppy and is very attached to her. Later on he decides to kill her to put her out of her misery, but allows one of the other farmhands to do the job. Candy is very mournful afterwards.

Then, at the end of the book Lennie accidentally kills the boss’s son’s wife and runs away. George knowing where Lennie is finds him and shoots him out of mercy because he knows the other farmhands will be much crueler. George doesn’t feel right about shooting Lennie even though the other workers think he is a hero.

I think John Steinbeck is trying to ask us whether or not it is moral to kill someone “out of mercy” or “for their own good”. In both cases the individual killed (either Candy’s dog or Lennie) would have suffered more if they weren’t killed when they were. Personally, I think it is rarely ever moral to kill someone. I don’t think candy’s dog should’ve been killed and in not quite sure if Lennie should’ve been killed either. I believe that John Steinbeck also thinks these characters should not have been killed. Both killers feel extreme remorse after their actions and seem to regret it.  I think Steinbeck was trying to make a point that it is not moral to kill people under any circumstances.