At the end of the novel Slim says of Lennie’s killing, “You hadda George. I swear you hadda.” How far do you agree with him and why?
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George’s decision to kill Lennie may be considered the most prudent. One of the reasons that leads George to kill Lennie is their brother-like connection. They were so bonded and united that George’s act may be measured out as being humane. Also, the end of the novel is prefigured at the beginning by the incident of Lennie with the lady at the Weed.
Firstly, I am going to explain how difficult it was for George to kill Lennie near the lake while Lennie was innocently thinking about the piece of land they were going to buy. At first, George didn’t manage the pressure to kill him, as this quote shows us, “George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again”. The tension and pressure start increasing as soon as the men start to arrive to the place where Lennie and George were, the sound of footsteps coming closer, “There were crashing footsteps in the brush now!”, the voices becoming louder, “The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices.”, and Lennie begging that he wants to get the place, all this build up the tension and pressure on George so that he’ll kill Lennie.
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
The Quality of Written Communication is average. There is a few minor inefficiencies such as parentheses and small things regarding quotes, like whether to use a comma or a colon to introduce the quote. One particular instance, the candidate wastes time and words on phrases like: "he just simply laid on his bed staring at the ceiling, “Candy lay rigidly on his bed staring at the ceilingâ€Â". To make this phrasing flow better, it would have been advisable to ignore the first clause and simply substitute both for the latter only, this way, the candidate is using embedded quotes and isn't repeating themselves.
Level of analysis
The Level of Analysis here is dubious, mainly because what is offered doesn't very clearly pertain to the question. In fact, most of the analysis made is erroneous and not developed enough to achieve anything higher than a high D or low C grade. One particular example is the way they suggest that Candy's sadness for the death of his dog is because he was too upset at not being able to do it himself, when in fact, they candidate would have done well to comment (if it had any relevance to the question) on the simple fact that Candy was sad first and foremost because his dog was dead. This error is repeated when the candidate suggests George would now live an easy life without Lennie, when in fact Lennie was the reason George could get employed so easily - because Lennie was an extremely hard worker, and maybe Steinbeck was hinting at this being the reason George stuck around Lennie, even after all the trouble he causes. Quite often, the candidate slips into simply regurgitating the storyline and makes no comment on it's effect or it's relevance to Slim. This should be avoided as re-iterating the events of the novel gain no marks for candidates. Also, very many Points are made but not backed up by sufficient evidence to suggest they are merely subjective views ("I believe that Slim played a brilliant role in this novel", being one example). Candidates should avoid making fleeting personal remarks and not backing them up with quotes and a full exploration of justification.
Response to question
The candidate's question derives from a quote from the character of Slim. It asks the candidate whether or not, and to what extent, they agree with Slim's suggestion that George had no choice to kill Lennie. Quite disappointingly though, this essay barely focuses on the question. Instead, the candidate clearly points out that they are going to "explain how difficult it was for George to kill Lennie". This is not what the question asks and, in fact, the candidate doesn't touch upon the question until the penultimate paragraph. It may be argued that the previous paragraphs were preparatory, but to dedicate two thirds of the essay to something not related to the question will compromise marks, and students should avoid this.
