Of Mice And Men Chapter 6 Summary And Analysis

This is the last chapter of the book. Lennie has arrived at the spot where they were to meet with George in case there was trouble. He is waiting for George’s arrival. Though the surrounding is peaceful, Lennie feels anxious. Meanwhile, he hallucinates with the image of his aunt scolding him for his wrongdoings. He also sees an image of a rabbit telling him how mad George is going to be.

Soon, George arrives at the spot and wants to deal with the issue once and for all. To Lennie’s surprise, George is not as mad as he thought he would be. George informs him that the act of killing Curley’s wife is not as serious as they can still go on and accomplish their dream of owning a ranch. At that time, George notices that the other men are coming. He gives Lennie the description of the land they intend to own. As they continue with their conversation, George carefully gets out Carlson’s gun that he had in his jacket. He continues telling Lennie about the farm to distract Lennie. Meanwhile, he shoots him. Lennie dies an instant death because he is shot in the head.

When the other men arrive, they get Lennie’s dead body lying down. It is only Slim who understands George’s intention since he knows the history between George and Lennie. Thee are similarities between the death of the dog that was previously owned by Candy and that of Lennie. They both died instantly. The fact that it is George that killed Lennie is also a sign of their relationship of a long time. It symbolizes that they were close to each other than the closeness of the people in the ranch.

As much as the other people, except Slim praise George for killing Lennie, deep in his heart, George is hurt. The drive to Kill Lennie was so that none of the people can get to him and put Lennie under more humiliation. He wanted Lennie to die an honorable death. George knew that the consequences of Lennie killing Curley’s wife would be dire. They would have beaten him mercilessly before finally killing him or taking him to prison. Though George had an opportunity to escape, he opted not to because he wanted to protect Lennie. That shows just how much he loved Lennie and the extent he could go to ensure Lennie feels better.

Lennie’s death goes on to show the problems that migrants workers go through. There are also other themes like racism, as shown in how Crooks is treated. The people do not care about those who are mentally unstable like Lennie.