Difficult Choices Have Beneficial Outcomes “Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering.” There is a debate to whether or not the killing of Lennie in the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is considered an act of euthanasia or murder. Clearly, the killing of Lennie is considered an example of euthanasia and George putting him out of his past miseries and what is yet to come in the future. Of greatest significance is the state that Lennie is previously in before his death. Lennie was considered a danger to those around him. There is quite a list of great length of animals that he has previously killed, although he didn’t necessarily mean to do it. Just one example that showcases this is, “Lennie sat in the hay and looked at the little dead puppy that lay in front of him” …show more content…
In the novel, George says, “Couln’ we maybe bring him in an’ they’ll lock him up? He nuts, Slim. He never done this to be mean” (Steinbeck 97). However, when the situation is truly analyzed, although Lennie may not have meant to cause any harm, he still killed a person. He is considered rather dangerous. In fact, towards the end of the novel, he began to go even more crazy and even began hallucinating and seeing visions. It was described in the novel that, “And then from out of Lennie’s head there came a little fat old woman” (Steinbeck 100). Soon after, it was said that, “Aunt Clara was gone and from out of Lennie’s head there came a gigantic rabbit” (Steinbeck 101). Both of these visions taunted him to the point where he slowly began to lose his head. This would lead to him being even more dangerous and unreliable and would cause him to be more miserable than he already was. Although Lennie did not mean to cause any harm, he still did, and most likely would again in the