Mercy killing was the best thing George could do for Lennie; there was no other way. John Steinbeck was a smart man who knew what he was writing about; Lennie’s fate is at the end of the book is really the best thing for him. He just didn’t belong working on that farm.

The Great Depression was not a great time for even the most competent men. Lennie is not okay, he couldn’t function back then. He needed to be treated, but back then treatments for the mentally impaired were hard to come by in that time. He never had a chance at being normal and nobody else could really understand him, so what George did at the end of Of Mice and Men was a mercy to him.

Lennie was going to be killed anyway with little if any chance at escape. He was going to be lynched and shot in the stomach which is a really painful and cruel way to die. What George did was shoot him himself; he was somebody that he trusted so he could be comfortable. He had Lennie imagine the ranch he with all the rabbits he wanted which is his happiest thought and then he shot him in the back of the head killing him instantly and painlessly.

Lennie was as much of a danger to himself as he was to others. If George wasn’t always around helping him who knows what his life would be like? He could never be happy, he would have no friends, he would cause more trouble and would not be able to escape or answer for himself. It is just a sad fact that Lennie is the weakest link and had to be removed from the chain.
Lennie was going to die and George thought that if it had to be that way, he wanted to be the one doing it. He did it as humanely as possible and mourned Lennie Afterword. Mercy Killing was the best thing for Lennie and the Right thing as well.