Of Mice and Men Was George right to have shot Lennie? To me this question is very simple to answer. It is an easy question to answer because of the relationship that I realized George and Lennie had. They have always been close, and were like brothers. George was always there for Lennie, was the one to take care of him and the one to always set him straight. It was right for George to set him straight because Lennie was mentally retarded. There was no way that George was able to ever get a good job with Lennie being there. George was right to have killed Lennie.
It was almost as if Lennie belonged to George. That also goes along with the "dog" situation from the book. Candy had his dog that was pretty much old, smelly and disgusting. But the dog wasn't liked by the guys in the ranch, because of the horrid stank.
Lennie James
Lennie James
Lennie JamesThe dog belonged to Candy and he should have been the one to kill him, instead the dog had to suffer.
Lennie lived under the law of a "brothers keeper." Lennie was very calm and peaceful when he died. George having talked to Lennie in a peaceful manor about everything that made Lennie happy. They talked about place and animals and plainly joyous things for Lennie. If the other ranch people had gotten to him first, they would have given Lennie a horrible death. They would have been never able to talk to Lennie like George did, because they didn't at all know what Lennie enjoyed. George gave Lennie a peaceful death by taking him away from everyone and talking to him about good things and shooting him when he wasn't paying attention.
The alternatives to shooting Lennie were worse...