This is a novel of defeated hope and the harsh reality of the life as poor homeless migrant workers whose dreams are to have the opportunity to work for themselves and harvest what they sew with no one to take anything from them or give them orders. George and Lennie desperately cling to the notion that they are different from other workers who drift from ranch to ranch because, unlike the others, they have a future and each other. Their companionship contrasts the loneliness that surrounds them-the loneliness of the homeless ranch worker, the loneliness of the outcast black man, the loneliness of the subjected woman, the loneliness of the old, helpless cripple-and it arouses curiosity in the characters that they encounter, Slim included
The way I feel about Lennie is that he was a hopeless cause, even if he didn't mean to do those things to the mouse, puppy, and Curl's wife. He has a good heart, but he has to pay for his actions. I obviously see that there will be no other way to keep Lennie in this world a little longer. For George it's the only way for them two to be really happy. George can't always escape from Lennie's troubles. So it was best for George to have killed Lennie himself. That is the cause and effect of life's cruelty. Every thing happens for a reason, but you just have to flow with it.
George had no other motive to this charade. Its ether have Lennie die a slow and painful death or die a fast and painful death reminiscing on what the called the "fatta land". For George it's been a split decision, weather watch or does it himself. Just like Candy's dog, “A dragfooted sheepdog, gray of muzzle, and with pale, blind old eyes” (26), Candy’s dog is a far cry from his sheepherding days. Carlson says to Candy, in regard to the dog: “Got no teeth, he’s all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy…