English 9 21 December 2012 In the novel Of Mice and Men, George needed to kill Leonie. If he did not kill him, Leonie could have probably hurt someone else. Leonie is not able to survive on his own without George. Lastly, George did not want Curler and his men to hurt Leonie. Because Leonie could not have survived on his own and could have hurt another person, George needed to kill him. After Leonie killed the mouse, the puppy, and Curlers wife it is obvious that he is a danger to society, and therefore, he must be killed.
Lien’s mental impairment makes him strangely attracted to childish things such as soft or bright objects. In one case, when Leonie and George were in Weed, Leonie see’s a woman’s red dress and started to feel it, but the woman started to scream because she got scared. They left and came to Scolded because the guys in Weed sent out a search party to find them. George knows that Leonie does not mean to hurt anyone. He knew Leonie all of his life and understands the flaws in him but, sometimes it gets really hard having to deal with him.
George said, “ He Jus’ wanted to ouch that red dress, like he wants to pet them pups all the time. “(Steinbeck 41). Luckily in this situation the woman did not get hurt but this is not the case in future events in the story. When Curlers wife said, “ Feel right around’ there an’ see how soft it is,” (Steinbeck 90) referencing her hair, Leonie does not want to let go because her hair was so soft and he was amused by soft things. Curlers wife starts screaming and he gets scared. This is Just like the girl 2 in Weed only this time she cannot get away and Leonie snaps her neck killing her instantaneously.
When George sees Curlers wife he is shocked and thinks what the best thing to do for Leonie and him. When he is considering what to say he says, “ l guess we goat get ‘ IM an’ lock ‘ IM up. We can’t let ‘ IM get away. Why, the poor bastard’s starve. ” (Steinbeck 94). George knows Leonie could not survive on his own. He is Just incapable of finding food and shelter for himself so, George decides to shoot him or else Leonie will suffer. George knows that Leonie would never be able to survive on his own because he could not get food or find shelter by himself.
George fulfills all basic needs that are needed to survive. He finds Jobs that provide food and shelter for Leonie and holds all of the money so he does not do anything unproductive with it. Also, George is Lien’s only friend that he can rely on. Leonie is not the person that people try to become friendly with because of his disability which was not accepted back then. Once Curler found his dead wife, he was extremely mad at Leonie and wanted to make him suffer by shooting him “ in the guts” with his shotgun. George knew what had to be done and knew where the place to do it was.
He found Leonie with the gun and told him a story and killed him peacefully not making him suffer. Leonie was going to die either way, so George made the decision to kill Leonie for many reasons. First, he could have injured or killed someone else like the girl in Weed or like Curlers wife. This is not taking into account the mouse and puppy he killed Just by petting them too hard. Also, if he had not have killed them Leonie would have starved to death because he is not capable of surviving on is own without help from George.
Lastly, Curler wanted to make 3 Leonie suffer by shooting him in the stomach and letting him bleed out so, George had to make sure this did not happen. Leonie did not mean to hurt anything. He Just was not able to control himself if a bad situation was to occur. George knew that Leonie was a threat to himself and society so George shot him for the welfare of everyone that he came into contact with. 4 Worked Cited Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin Group, 1937. Print.