Free Sample Essays > North American
Tending the Rabbits: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
“Some guys got no fambly. They ain’t got nobody in the worl’ that gives a hoot in hell about ‘em -” “But not us,” Lennie interrupted George happily. George was quiet for a moment. “But not us,” he said. “Because I got you -” “An’ I got you. We got each other, that’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us,” Lennie cried in triumph. “Tell how it’s gonna be.” “Look acrost the river, Lennie an’ I’ll tell you so you can almost see it. We gonna get a little place,” George began. He reached in his side pocket and brought out Carlson’s Luger. “An’ you get to tend the rabbits,” George continued. Lennie giggled with happiness. George raised the gun, and brought it close to the back of Lennie’s head. “An’ live on the fatta the lan’,” Lennie said dreamily. George pulled the trigger.
George and Lennie are two characters taken from Of Mice and Men. Lennie is mentally challenged, and George, being his only friend, feels obliged to look after him and protect him. So much so, that when Lennie finds himself a victim of his own strength, George takes it upon himself to help him out. Lennie has once again underestimated his own strength, and accidentally killed the wife of his boss’s son, Curley. Curley, along with a mob of angry farmers, is out for blood. So George decides that it is up to him to end Lennie’s life before Curley does. George’s intentions were rooted in friendship and sympathy. I believe that George was completely justified and he did the right thing.
Lennie was in quite a predicament. For as long as Curley had known Lennie, he had a problem with him. Curley is a man who is always looking to take out his anger and frustration on someone. Lennie was his obvious choice because he was the most likely not to fight back. So when Lennie kills his wife, Curley wants nothing short of Lennie’s life, no doubt painfully. George knows this. He does not want Lennie to be subject to such an atrocity. He has Lennie dream of the thing most dear to him – the farm that the two of them were to own together. This dream is what has motivated Lennie throughout the entire novel. And it is this dream that he is happily fantasizing about when George quickly puts an end to Lennie’s problems.
One may argue that no one has the right to take another’s life into his own hands. To do so would be playing God, and no one knows God’s will. I, however, cannot bring myself to believe that it is God’s will for someone to painfully die at the hands of his enemies. Rather, I believe that often God works through the hands of others in order to carry out his wishes. In this case, I believe that God was working through George.