To start off my series of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, I will start with the back of the book, observing the ending of the story so I properly ruin the suspense for all of you who haven't read it yet.
George kills Lennie.
It's not as off the bat as I say it, but now you know. I'll let you read the book to figure out why. It's my observation that George, who really doesn't show much affection to Lennie, shows his true relationship with the big guy as he speaks to him before pulling the trigger. Sure he's always stuck up for Lennie, kept him out of as much trouble as he could, and told him stories simply so that he was happy, but it was always in a gruff way, like that of, say, a disproving boss. In these final moments, George's tenderness was like that of a father and son, or of a person who puts his dog down so it doesn't suffer. It was his way of protecting Lennie, his Lennie, from the gruesome fate. It was is his tenderness.
