George And Lennie example essay topic

549 words
The overwhelming theme in "Of Mice and Men" is that each man kills the thing he loves. This idea deserves great contemplation, which is one thing that has made this novel a lasting classic. However, this is not a completely true statement. To say each man kills the thing he loves is an overly dramatic idea, entirely implausible. If, for the sake of clarification "man" includes the entire human race if would be impossible. Is man more likely to kill the thing he loves, yes; for each man to do that, no.

Two of the main reasons that people kill the thing they love are because they are either protecting it from a worse fate or they are experiencing an overpowering amount of emotion. In the novel George kills Lennie because he loves him. He is trying to protect him from a worse fate of either being hunted down or thrown into a jail where nobody would understand him. It is a difficult choice for George, but he understood it was the most humane thing he could have done. It was an easier passing for Lennie; he was calm and right with the world.

This is akin to when a relative needs to remove a loved one from life support. Many people believe it is better to have the person they love be removed from the pain of living than to have to live a half life. When an emotion becomes too much to bear it can lead a person to kill. There are many such stories coming out of the WWII Jewish Ghetto's. When the SS Officers would start searching the emptied houses mothers in hiding would often accidentally smother their children to keep them quiet. The overcoming fear of being found and killed made them perform a very rash act.

How many stories has the public been feed about lover's quarrels that end in death? One person decides to leave and the other decides that if they cannot have them nobody will. There is either too much love or too much blind panic pressing in on a person that would make that decision. Love is a difficult thing, as seen in the relationship displayed by George and Lennie. What makes the theme not entirely accurate is that George would never have killed Lennie if he did not have to. Lennie helped keep George's dream of a farm alive, without Lennie George would have been just another drifter.

George killed him because he loves him, but on same wavelength if he had not been forced he would not have killed him. There are people in the world who live for one another; they would never kill the other person. If given the choice many people would give their own life over someone they loved. In summation each man does not kill the thing he loves.

Though, if we are driven to it by intense emotion or extreme circumstance we will make that ultimate sacrifice. The problem with this is each person controls their own actions, you choose everything you do. Sometimes people choose to find an alternative to killing.