To what extent do you think Curley's wife is responsible for her own death - Essay Example

She wanted to have some fun but was suddenly killed. Who can be blamed for such an odd death? Nowadays a person like Lennie would not be put to death for such acts, but did justice really triumphed in Steinbeck’s novella?  The question is worth-discussing, so the present paper will try to find the answer to it. The given writing will try to prove that Curley’s wife still can be considered responsible for her own death. The real fault of Lennie There is a famous proverb that teaches us to forgive “As you blame others, blame yourself; as you would forgive yourself, forgive others”.

The proverb precisely portrays a perfect situation in which we forgive others and consider ourselves to be guilty in our misfortunes. In reality, when some accident happens people tend to blame others in order to authorize themselves as much as it is possible in this or that situation. In the situation under consideration we will dare to state that Lennie was not completely guilty of Curley’s wife death. Certainly, nowadays a person would be unavoidably convicted for such crime, even if a good lawyer would prove that it was manslaughter, but he would not be cruelly punished taking into account his disability.

The irresponsibility of George and Curley’s wife It is also right and can’t be denied that George as well as Curley’s wife manifested great irresponsibility. Really, George left Lennie along notwithstanding that he knew pretty well that Lennie was mentally disabled. Curley’s wife in her turn also knew about Lennie’s disability but still did everything to provoke him to kill her. Lennie told her: “George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you — talk to you or nothing”(A Mice and Men).

However, she continued bothering him: “All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’s on’y about four o’clock. None of them guys is goin’ to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely”(A Mice and Men). She knew about his disability and these actions were too stupid and too inappropriate. She had also a chance to learn about Lennie’s strength: “I was jus’ playin’ with him.. an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me.. an’ I made like I was gonna smack him.. an’.. an’ I done it.

An’ then he was dead” (The Mice and Men). She could assume that if he killed his puppy by chance, he can kill by chance, so it is dangerous to be open with him. Moreover, she was glaringly dressed and this could also provoke Lennie. Certainly we may argue that the woman couldn’t even imagine such accident to have happened, however, being aware about his disability, she should have behaved with caution. In our time disabled people are accused of crimes but are not cruelly punished for them as they can’t be fully responsible for their acts and simply need more care.

Under no circumstances such people should be left alone. Therefore, if George had not left Lennie alone, the unhappy accident wouldn’t have happened. The reason of tragic event Tragic event happened when Lennie appeared unsupervised. Every person has a right to defend himself, but due to his mental disability, Lennie could do that only using his strength, so he started to grab Curley’s wife hair, because the woman was too open with him and this led to the weird death. She can be blamed for own death, because every person should know