George Milkton

George Milton
Information
Gender	male
Approximate Age	Twenties or Thirties
Occupation	Free-lance Laborer

George Milton is decribed as "small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose." (Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men 2).

Relationship with Lennie

George watches after Lennie Small. This is a big challenge for George and he often gets frustrated, in which he goes off about how his life would be without Lennie. He was given the responsibility to care for Lennie by Lennie's Aunt Clara. He disciplines Lennie by telling him if he's bad he can't "tend to the rabbits". Lennie will do whatever George tells him to do, and once when George was messing with Lennie, Lennie almost drowned. Their relationship is much like a father and son, but more like a dog and his master. George loves Lennie very much and in the end when Lennie dies he expresses feelings of giving up on life and Lennie and his' dream of having a farm of their own.

"Pity Murder" of Lennie

When Lennie accidentallty kills Curley’s Wife, Curley is bloodthirsty and out for revenge. Upon first seeing Curley's Wife's body, he immediately thinks of what to do to help Lennie, showing his love for Lennie. When he sees how Curley reacts he steals Carlson's gun and goes out for Lennie. He finds Lennie and is not mad at him like Lennie thought he would be, but compassionate. He tells Lennie to look across the river and imagine their dream, Lennie is very happy and George shoots him in the back of the head. He dies instantly. Make no mistake, George killed Lennie because he didn't want him to rot in jail or be tortured by Curley. He "puts Lennie out of his misery", much like veterinarians do to dogs. He tries to make it as painless as possible, and afterwards he gives up on life and his dream and blows all his money on a whore-house and alcohol. The reason George killed Lennie was because Lennie wouldn't be safe anymore. He struggles to grasp the concept of serious crimes like murder and thinks George can get him out of every situation. Wrong. If Lennie was found he would be scared and would probably get lynched. It would have been good if George shot Curley then shot Lennie so things would have been different around the ranch with Curley gone. The others wouldn't notice it was actually George shooting him. The story started and ended in the exact same place: the place George told Lennie to go if anything bad happens. Another good ending would have been if Lennie hid Curley's wife's body in the hiding place.

Role in Curley's Wife's Murder

I am not blaming George for Curley's Wife's death, but he did play a large role in the matter. For one, he should not have left Lennie alone. Though this is not his fault, I am just going to put that out there.

When Lennie kills CW (Curley's Wife), he does it to stop her screaming so he won't get in trouble with George. Even after she is dead, he talks to her and then realizes he killed her. Because of George's punishments embedded into his mind, he freaks out when CW starts screaming about her hairdo. His tring to get her to stop screaming so he could "still tend the rabbits", is really what killed her. If George hadn't been so hard on Lennie she wouldn't have died, though it is not his fault.

Personality

George Milton was an exceptionally unique character. He selflessly vowed to look after Lennie Small and to protect him from others, and himself. He was very independent and self-reliant. However this leads to extreme paranoia, shown by the fact that whenever he meets someone new, he acts aggressively and almost maliciously. George was quite intelligent and quick-thinking, and could think of a way to get out of any confrontation, and imaginatively made an excuse that Lennie was George's mentally unstable cousin who travelled with him (Only the latter of which was true). George was mature and sensible, and took everything seriously. He was down-to-earth and did his best to keep Lennie's head out of the clouds. However, his selfless and honourable nature was embittered for life when he was forced to kill his best and only friend, and metaphorical brother, in cold blood. It is unknown what he was like after the incident.